“Food security is crucial & as long as Africa does not have reasonable level of food & nutrition security, we are obviously not acting in our best interests,” stated Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president of Nigeria, claimed on Sunday that Africa had failed to use science and technology to advance agriculture. “And if we don’t have food and nutrition security, we can’t blame our scientists.”
“Instead, we can blame our politicians and our farmers, but more so the politicians than the farmers, because, as someone who has served at both helms, I can tell you that the farmers are ready if the politicians give them all the incentives and encouragement they need to succeed.”
Just as he pointed out that political figures on the continent should be held accountable for their failure to achieve food self-sufficiency in their various nations.
He said this at a lecture held to honour his 86th birthday in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, and urged Nigerians to hold the leaders responsible for the lack of political will to turn the nation into Africa’s food basket.
“I think Nigeria is not a hopeless case because of God. Nigeria was crafted by God with a lofty goal in mind. At the time of its independence, the world did not refer to Nigeria as a “giant in Africa,” but rather as a “giant in the sun.” Nigeria was more than just an African giant; it was an enormous country.”
“We haven’t been giants in Africa either, so we haven’t even been giants in the sun. We were referred to as giants with clay feet by some.” Therefore, that is not how God intended for Nigeria to be; rather, that is how we Nigerians have unintentionally or purposefully shaped Nigeria.
“But I don’t think Nigeria will stay that way forever. Therefore, we must continue to maintain our composure, pray, and understand all the contributing factors and elements that have made us Africa’s dwarf rather than its giant. I believe and pray that we will succeed in doing so.”
“Food security is crucial, and as long as Africa does not have a reasonable level of food and nutrition security, we are obviously not acting in our best interests.”
The most important details in this text are that Africans depend on the Russians and Ukrainians for wheat and that there are no other carbohydrates that can be produced in Africa that would allow us to be self-sufficient. IITA has been attempting to address this, and we now have everything we need for food and nutrition security, all that is needed is political will and action.
In his lecture on “The Complex Dynamics in Achieving Food and Nutrition Security in Africa,” Dr. Netanyahu Sanginga, a former director general of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), questioned why African nations continue to spend billions of dollars importing food despite having access to fertile land.
He suggested that Nigeria’s annual expenditure of N11 billion on food imports serves the purpose of boosting other nations’ internal revenue at the expense of her own. He insisted that the nation must transform from a consumer to a producer, highlighting how doing so would advance the goals of improved food security and stable employment.