Minister for Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh has declared that Nigerians are<\/p>\n
currently angry and hungry and needing an immediate solutions to the
\neconomic hardship in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Addressing a meeting to discuss reports of locust and quelea-birds in
\nNiger Republic and how to prevent its invasion into Nigeria, Ogbeh Nigeria
\ncannot afford to have crops destroyed by pest.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe have called you for two major reasons first we have received
\ninfromation that locusts and quelea-birds are messing up in Niger Republic
\nfrom where they normally attack us in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs you know through the efforts some of you are making grain production
\nis increasing steadily especially in the northern part. But you also know
\nhow dangerous quelea birds can be and locusts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they arrive within minutes they can wipe out what our farmers have put
\nin the field. Now the price of food is very high today and Nigerians are
\nvery troubled. People are very angry and they speak on the television and
\nover the radio, write in newspapers, they are hungry and want that
\nsituation resolved.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I believe the efforts you are making we are getting to the promised
\nland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Minister said there maybe problem if urgent steps were not taking to
\nstop the invasion locusts, quelea-birds, army-worms and avian influenza.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason for this meeting is how to urgently attack the locusts and not
\neven in Nigeria but from Niger Republic. And you have to be out the look
\nout.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the Niger-Nigeria Commission and we have been in contact with
\npeople in Niger Republic to see what we can do immediately to make sure
\nthat the pest don\u2019t arrive here. Now I am told that Niger Republic has
\naircraft and we used to have some but now we use some private sector
\nservice providers, we have chemicals so that we can attack these pests.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will get to work and to deploy resources for this fight against the
\npests before they arrive our shores. Mr President has also written that we
\nmove quickly to arrest the menace of locusts, quelea-birds, grasshoppers,
\nand to liaise with the governors in view of the extent of operational and
\nfinancial support required. So we want to that\u201d, he stated.<\/p>\n
However, according to the commissioners quelea-birds, army-worms and
\ngrasshoppers have invaded Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, Cross River, Yobe,
\nKano, Borno, Benue,Kebbi, Enugu States, and others.<\/p>\n
They said efforts have been made to arrest the situation and have also
\nreported to the Federal Ministry of Agric.<\/p>\n
The commissioners came up with various measures on how to launch the
\nattack on the pests and protect farmlands, which the Minister promised
\nsoon to deploy resources to stop the menace.<\/p>\n
Commissioners from Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa, Zamfara, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna,
\nKogi, Kebbi, Plateau, Bauchi, Sokoto, Enugu, Delta, Anambra, Rivers and
\nBayelsa States were present at the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister for Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh has declared that Nigerians are currently angry and hungry and needing an immediate solutions to the economic hardship in Nigeria. Addressing a meeting to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n