From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The National Assembly Joint Committee on Agricultural Production and Services has threatened to ensure that agencies under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security that fail to give an account of their 2024 budget performance, get zero allocation in the 2025 budget.
The panel noted that agencies not represented by their chief executives would not be allowed to make presentations to it.
The committee, while expressing dismay over the the absence of the Director General of the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service, Vincent Isegbe, who was slated to address members on the 2024 budget performance of his agency, said it was worrisome that heads of agencies were in the habit of sending their subordinates to appear before parliament.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Agricultural Production and Services, Saliu Mustapha, said there was no reason for Isegbe not to appear before the Committee in person. Consequently, he directed that the Director General appear before the panel on January 20.
“When the President came to present this budget, he made it clear that all heads of agencies must come to defend their estimates and should therefore call off any plan to travel. We are going to give him another time, but that may not be too convenient for him because we have a time frame to submit our report.
“We should all make this thing easy for ourselves. There is no need for us to drag what we don’t need to drag. Even if he is coming to make an excuse, he should have been here to say these are the people that will do this thing on my behalf.
“The President made it very clear that nobody should travel when he came to present the budget. Why is it now that your principal chose to travel? Tell him that we are available tomorrow.”
Earlier, Mustapha had noted that projections by the World Food Programme that about 33.1 million Nigerians will be hit by acute hunger in 2025 indicated that the country must work hard to achieve food security.
“The projection by the World Food Programme that about 33.1m Nigerians will face food insecurity in 2025 is an indication that food crisis is what we cannot allow to happen and we collectively need to avert.
“Given the critical role that agriculture plays in ensuring food security, economic stability and rural development, it is important that adequate budgetary provisions be made to address the challenges the sector faces today.
“The combined effect of climate change, desertification and other environmental challenges put agricultural productivity under severe threat necessitating improved budgetary allocation to the sector, “ he stated.
Similarly, his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Bello Kaoje, identified food insecurity as one of the major challenges confronting the country.
Kaoje said “Sometime last year, Mr. President declared a state of emergency on food security. We have had a robust discussion with the Minister of Agriculture who enumerated a lot of challenges before us and we assured him that the two committees will do something to make sure that the budget is enhanced.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that where you have challenges, we can assist. We will put our heads together with the appropriation committee to make sure that the renewed hope agenda of the President is achieved in the area of food security.”