The claims made by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, that over 4.2 million Nigerians had been lifted out of poverty in the last two years, did not sit well with pundits. Abubakar, at a ministerial press briefing recently in Abuja, explained that the feat was achieved largely through the Economic and Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) of 2017-2020.
“The ERGP envisaged that investments in agriculture can guarantee food security, have the potential to be a major contributor to job creation, and will save foreign exchange required for food imports.
“Our various empowerment initiatives along production, processing and marketing of agricultural commodities have lifted a total of 4,205,576 Nigerians out of poverty in the last two years. This is going to continue as part of Mr. Presidents promise to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty within the next 10 years,” he said.
Aside wondering where he got his figures from when he assumed duty eight days after he was redeployed from the Ministry of Environment following the sack of Sabo Nanono, and has spent barely a month, agriculturists demanded to know the locations of the beneficiaries.[THE SUN]
