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Lagos residents consume N4.5bn food daily, says Sanwo-Olu

By Opeyemi Babalola
05 July 2022   |   2:36 am
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has said residents of the state consume about N4.5 billion worth of food daily just as he reiterated his commitment to food security.

Sanwo-olu

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has said residents of the state consume about N4.5 billion worth of food daily just as he reiterated his commitment to food security.

Sanwo-Olu said this at the opening ceremony of a two-day zonal sensitisation workshop with the theme: ‘Implementation of Food Systems Transformation Pathways in Nigeria 2022,’ yesterday, in Lagos.

The workshop was organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning in collaboration with Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Lagos Ministry of Economic, Planning and Budget.

The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Economic, Planning and Budget, Sam Egube, said the state has decided to take the bull by the horn in guaranteeing food security for the people with different agricultural and food value chains.

According to him, Lagos has a rich history of economic growth and transformation. “Although it covers only 0.4 per cent of Nigeria’s territorial land mass making it the smallest in the country.

“It accounts for over 60 per cent of industrial and commercial activities. Lagos is a coastal state and has an extremely limited arable land space and is home to about 21 million people.

“Its residents consume about N4.5 billion worth of food daily and 50 per cent of beef produced in the country running into several billion in other trading activities with markets cutting across all the local government areas in the state,” he said.

The state government reiterated its commitment to strengthening the nation’s food systems and bringing about transformation to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The workshop, which had in attendance the six Southwest states, sought the support of private organisations and stakeholders on the implementation of food systems transformation pathways.

Egube noted that it was expedient for his administration with the present situation of the country to ensure food security in the state.

“Food systems are a considerable part of the national economy and have contributed significantly to many developmental issues; hence improving the food systems can influence positive changes that will address multiple challenges,” he said.

Mrs Olusola Idowu, the National Convener/Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, said an implementation team made up of key stakeholders had been constituted to develop an implementation plan.

Idowu noted that the workshop provides an opportunity to present and discuss the identified priority actions selected for implementation from January 2022.

She added that it would help to assign roles and responsibilities for effective implementation of the priority actions. Idowu noted that the workshop was being held in all six geopolitical zones concurrently from July 4 to 8, focusing on three low-hanging fruit programmes and 80 priority actions.

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