With a view to actualizing the food security agenda of the present administration, the federal government, through the ministry of water resources and sanitation, has reiterated its resolve to collaborate with the Cross River State Government in the area of tackling food insecurity and Open defecation, while also urging the Cross River Basin Development Authority (CRBDA) to effectively collaborate with stakeholders through the expansion of more irrigable land for food production.
The minister of state for water resources and sanitation, Hon. Bello Muhammad Goronyo, Esq, revealed this while on a two-day familiarization tour of CRBDA November 7 to 8 in Calabar.
“In line with Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on food security, I urge the management of CRBDA to continue to collaborate with Stakeholders and expand more irrigable lands to accelerate the actualization of Mr. President’s agenda to get Nigerians out of hunger and poverty,” said Goronyo in an address during the visit.
The minister emphasized his determination to ensure the active participation of staff of his ministry and partners in the water resources sector towards the success of Nigeria’s food security agenda and stressed that everyone must be proactive, innovative and dedicated to making positive impacts in the lives of all Nigerians.
He disclosed the importance of the performance bonds signed with the president by ministers and permanent secretaries during the just concluded cabinet retreat in Abuja, which was tailored towards unrelenting focus on achieving results.
The governor of Cross River State, Sen. Bassey Edet Otu, warmly received the minister and his entourage at the Cross River State Government House.
He pledged his commitment to collaborating with the federal government on food security, while assuring that Cross River State was already working assiduously to end open defecation in the state.
The managing director of CRBDA, Engr. Bassey Edet Nkposong, said that the Songhai Model Integrated Farm commissioned by the minister will provide a model and reference point to the local farmers and other entrepreneurs on the zero waste concept of a typical Songhai model integrated farm.
He disclosed that CRBDA has put in place strategic plans to synergize with various stakeholders in the Rrver basin with a view to achieving full utilization of available land and water resources to construct dams, Irrigation facilities, boreholes, as well as ensure food production and erosion control in order to meet the social-economic development of its catchment areas.
The climax of the visit was the commissioning of the CRBDA Songhai Model Integrated Farm, which consists of a poultry section, crop section, mushroom farm, fishery and general animal husbandry section, with two kilometers of road network.
Goronyo and his entourage also paid a courtesy visit to the Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Oko Abasi Otu V, to wrap up his visit to Calabar.
