A bill seeking to tackle potential hunger in Nigeria has passed into second reading in the Senate.
The bill, which was sponsored by Senator Theodore Orji, titled: “A bill for an Act to make provision for freedom from hunger and right to adequate food of acceptable quality, right of every child to basic nutrition and for connected purposes,” was unanimously supported by the Senators.
In his lead debate on the Food Security Bill, Senator Orji submitted that Nigeria was one of the few countries of the world that has no legal framework for food security, hence there was no accessibility to quality and adequate food security by Nigerians.
He noted that the bill, if passed, would compel government to provide quality food as part of its primary responsibilities.
Contributing, Senator David Jonah Jang, representing Plateau North, decried the Federal Government’s non challant attitude to agriculture, stressing that if nothing was done as quickly as possible, Nigerians would be faced with famine.
Jang explained that there was no kind of food that cannot be produced in Nigeria, while calling for coordinated effort by government to make sure that foods produced through agriculture were processed for consumption.
He said: “Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, Nigeria has never taken food security seriously in the past and this bill seeks make sure that foods produced by farmers were processed for consumption.”
Senator Sam Egwu on his part regretted that private investors were currently losing their investments for lack of proper legal framework that would support their effort.
Egwu pointed that the Nigeria Agricultural Reinsurance Company have abdicated its responsibilities in mitigating losses of farmers, thereby further frustrating the effort of farmers.
“Distinguished colleagues, in Ebonyi State currently, those who invested in agriculture in recent years were incurring losses and the agricultural insurance companies were not helping matters,” he added.
Senator Remi Tinubu in her contribution explained that Nigeria was where it is as a result of the inability of past administration’s commitment to agriculture.
Tinubu was emphatic that former governors who were those advocating for food security did nothing during their tenures, regretting that their actions have impoverished Nigerians.
After various contributions in favour of the bill, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, commended the sponsor of the bill and foresight of senators, while referring the bill to the Committee on Agriculture for further legislative inputs.
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