The Minister of Agriculture, Prof. Sheikh Abdullah, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the Federal Government would not panic over a report indicating that Nigeria was vulnerable to food crisis.

The report by the FAO, the United Nations’ food agency, stated that Nigeria, Morocco and Bangladesh, among others, were vulnerable to food crisis.

Reacting to the report in an interview with newsmen, Abdullah criticised the authors of the report for not seeking his opinion as Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture.

“Nobody sought my opinion; neither did anybody speak with me or the Minister of State for Agriculture or any of the stakeholders in the agricultural sector before coming out with the report,’’ he said.

According to him, such reports are often based on assumptions and insufficient analyses.

However, he said the current administration was aware of the global food crisis and that efforts were ongoing to reposition the nation’s agricultural value chain for sustainable development.

He noted that post harvest loss was one of the factors militating against the attainment of food security and sufficiency in Nigeria.

To this end, the minister said the government was already implementing several programmes aimed at promoting best practices in agricultural development.

The programmes, he said, were entrenched in the National Programme for Agriculture and Food Security, which serves as a road map for implementing all agricultural programmes.

He identified the programmes to include as the Commercial Agriculture Development Programme, FADAMA III, NERICA Rice Project and IFAD-assisted Rural Finance Institutions, Building Programme and two community-based programmes.

The minister expressed the hope that the nation’s food storage capacity would be increased from its present 300,000 tonnes to three million tonnes when the ongoing silos projects were completed.

Apart from the silos projects, the minister said that the Federal Government had also established 17 integrated large-scale rice processing mills in 12 states.

UBA reduces interest on Osun’s N18.3bn loan

The United Bank for Africa Plc has reduced the interest rate on the N18.3bn loan it granted Osun State Government from 13 per cent to 10.7 per cent.

The reduction came on the heels of a visit to Governor Rauf Aregbesola by the Group Managing Director, UBA, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, in Osogbo, on Tuesday.

The Assistant Director, Osun State Bureau of Communications and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Fayemiwo, said in a statement that the reduction was in the interest of the people of the state.

Oduoza, who led a group of UBA directors to a 40-minute meeting with Aregbesola at the Oranmiyan House, Osogbo, said the bank would partner with the 20-year-old state in the areas of agriculture and infrastructural development.

The GMD revealed that the tenor of the loan had also been increased from three years to five years.

He said, “We are going to convert the loan into a bond. Due process was followed in awarding the loan and project supervision is on course.”

“The N18.3bn loan was meant to assist the government. We looked at the areas the loan was going to be utilised. A little over N10bn has been drawn from the loan to execute so many projects.”

Commending the bank for reducing the interest rate of the loan and its tenor, Aregbesola said a new vista has been opened for the state in areas of finance.

The governor urged the bank to cooperate with his administration in moving Osun rejuvenating and rebuilding Osun State.