Worried by the influx of substandard and poisonous food items into the country, the federal government has given marching orders to appropriate agencies charged with the task of quality control to stop the importation of such dangerous food.
This was even as the government has concluded plans to kick start a mass housing project for low income earners across the country.
Specifically, the government cautioned the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), the National Agency for Food, Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC) amongst others to sit up.
The developments were the resolve of the National Economic Council (NEC) which met on Tuesday in Abuja.
Arising from the meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the presidential Villa, Governors Rochas Okorocha of Imo state who was flanked by his colleagues from Adamawa state, Jibrila Bindow and Adams Oshiomole of Edo State stated that council also deliberated extensively on agriculture as one of the way of reflating the economy.
Okorocha said, “At the end of the NEC meeting today, again, agriculture took the center stage. Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbe came and shared with us his action plans and how to improve on food production in the country.
“One of our major challenges now is about agriculture, taking it as a pivot in which all the wheels of economic activities must rotate if we must go out of recession.
“We have agreed at NEC that state governors should partner with the federal government in this regards to ensure productivity and high yields in the agricultural sector. We thank God that this year because of good rains, we shall experience bumper harvest which will force the prices of food items to go down.
“We commended anchor borrowers Programme of the federal government through the CBN as a success story. Many states now have embarked on rice farming which guarantees us sufficiency in rice production in the next year. So, agriculture was very key in our resolve to come out recession quickly. “We were concerned of some of the imported goods, some of the items imported into this country in the name of food and we have cautioned seriously that SON, NAFDAC and other agencies that deal with quality of goods to do their utmost best so that rubbish is not sent into this country in the name of food.”
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