According to Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, a new set of farmer-millionaires have emerged following the incentivisation of the agricultural sector.
The Minister was speaking as a guest on Channels TV's Sunrise Daily programme, Tuesday.
Nigeria's Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said that farmers in the country are now millionaires due to the various agriculture empowerment initiatives of the APC government.
Lai Mohammed made the disclosure while appearing as a guest of Channels TV's sunrise daily on Tuesday as part his media itinerary for government's mid-term assessment.
According to the Minister, "what this government has done is that in the area of agriculture, we have created a new set of millionaires in Kebbi, Imo, Jigawa, Kano states so much that today, these new farmers have been empowered and we have made agriculture quite attractive to them.”
Citing National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data, the Minister said the government was able to lift the agricultural, manufacturing and solid minerals sectors of the economy out of recession.
"We actually did move out of recession in manufacturing, we moved out of recession in agriculture, (and) we moved out of recession in solid minerals,” he said.
While reacting to rising food prices despite his acclaimed success in the agricultural sector, the Minister blamed this on the lack of basic infrastructure including roads, railways and power. He however said the Buhari administration has therefore prioritised infrastructural development which has seen it double budgetary expenditure on infrastructure from the previous administration, to ensure a lift in transport and power sectors.
The Minister was optimistic that "by the time these things are put in place, traders would be able to bring tomatoes by train from Kano to Lagos or would be able to bring food from the Middlebelt and that is what is going to make your food cheap."
