Lagos to hold maiden edition of food security summit

Sanni Okanlawon

The Lagos State Government has concluded plans to organize a world class summit, tagged: ‘The Lagos Food Security Summit and Exhibition.’

This is in furtherance of its commitment to optimally explore its agricultural value chain potentials and ensure food security for its teeming populace,

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Food Security, Mr Sanni Okanlawon at a news briefing at Alausa, in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Tuesday said that that the summit was being organized to institutionalize a food security framework that would guarantee sustainable food security for its growing population.

“The summit which is scheduled to hold at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja from Thursday 10th to Friday 11th November, 2016 is designed to realign emerging realities with new global trends on food safety, food processing, food storage, food handling, funding of agri-business and agric-insurance”.

Okanlawon added that the summit, with the theme: “Actualizing Sustainable Food Security in Lagos: A New Comprehensive Agenda,” will attract major stakeholders from the Agricultural sector and academics as well as prospective foreign and local investors, media, civil society and policy makers in government.

“The Summit is expected to provide a veritable platform for discourse on various investment opportunities in agriculture and agro-allied business in the State with the aim of stimulating private investment in the sector and ultimately optimize its vast agro-processing and agro-allied potentials.”

He said that seasoned experts and professionals locally and internationally from both the public and private sectors had been carefully selected as resource persons and facilitators to make presentations and lead discourse at the Summit.

“We expect that this array of eminent speakers would not only bring to bear their wealth of experience on the participants but also provide pragmatic options towards ensuring that the objective for which the summit and exhibition is being organized is fully achieved”, Okanlawon stated.

He added that the Summit could not have come at better time than now when there is an unwavering commitment by the present administration of Mr Akinwunmi Ambode to put in place enduring measures that would help improve the socio-economic well-being of residents of the State, stressing that the governor created the Office of the Special on Food Security in order to bring to the fore the importance of sustainable food security in Lagos.

“The attainment of food security is imperative in any society and this underscores why all the countries in the world make considerable efforts to increase their food production capacity in response to their growing population growth. Lagos State with its teeming population of over 22 million people and annual population growth rate of 6 to 8 % one of the highest in world, cannot afford to be an exception”, he said.

Okanlawon, while stressing the need to urgently plan for sufficient and sustainable food production in Lagos noted that State, being the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria with about 45% of the nation’s skilled population and the tendency for increased population growth due to rural-urban migration need to plan not just for now but for the future.

He added that in spite of its limited space, the State possessed vast agricultural investment potentials waiting to be tapped or optimized, stressing that the present administration of Ambode had in the last one year embarked on various innovative agricultural and agro-allied programmes and projects geared towards ensuring food security in the State.

“This programmes and projects geared towards ensuring food security in the State include; the landmark partnership with Kebbi State Government for development of agricultural commodities like rice, wheat, groundnut, onions, maize and beef value chains; implementation of the strategic food security plan for the State and the Agric Youth Empowerment Scheme (AGRIC-YES) programme,” he said.

Others, according to him are: Estates Initiatives on Poultry, Fish, Vegetable and Arable Crops; Coconut Development in Lagos State for tourism and poverty alleviation; Commercial Agriculture Development Project to increase productivity; National Fadama Development Project for poverty alleviation; Input Subsidy and organic farming promotion to increase farmers income; Farm Mechanization to reduce drudgery in Agriculture; and Agricultural Land Holdings and management to improve access by genuine farmers to land.

Okanlawon stated that the State government was not relenting in its Rural Finance Institution Building Programme and School Agricultural Programme, adding that it also strengthened its Agricultural Extension Services and animation to improve farmers’ productivity while development of modern abattoirs to provide wholesome meat to the citizens was accorded the desired priority.

He added that the Ministry of Agriculture’s mandate was to facilitate food security by harnessing Public and Private investment to create a strong, mixed sector economy that could provide jobs for all and create the base for expanding social services and environmental sustainability.