The distribution of the 42,000 metric tonnes of grains from the strategic reserve by the federal government has commenced in the seven focal points of state capitals of the Northwest.
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, revealed this on Wednesday while briefing correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu, at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Kyari said that the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is actively working with the Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and other security agencies to address the risk involved in vandalism of food warehouses across the country.
The minister said: “We are distributing to state capitals in the first instance as you all are aware of the risk involved in the vandalisation of foodstuff so we are working with the office of the National Security Adviser and other national security agencies.
“Distribution has commenced however I will not want to comment on the security aspect of the distribution.
“I can assure you that we have started distributing in the northwestern states, and we are distributing out of seven points.”
The distribution is in line with the government’s promise to alleviate the present hardship in the country.
It has also pledged to source 60,000 additional metric tons of grains from private producers to augment the distribution.
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Also speaking during the briefing, Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani, said his ministry is in the process of raising a $2 billion fund to achieve interconnectivity of the entire country through a fiber optic network.
He said the programme will involve a 120,000-kilometre stretch of fiber optic cables, noting that at least eight states will be part of the pilot stage of the programme.
According to him, the programme is staged to make use of existing facilities in the nation’s communications sector to address the various challenges facing the country, including security.
Bosun explained: “So, the first thing we’re doing which is being pushed by Mr. President, is leveraging existing infrastructure that we have within NIGCOMSAT, which is the satellite company.
“Most of you know that Nigeria is the only country in West Africa with a satellite, but also leveraging the fibre network of Galaxy Backbone to deploy connectivity to all the 774 local government Secretariat.
“Those who are following that project, which was announced about two or three weeks ago, would also see that we’ve actually started the connectivity.
“So, a number of local government secretariats in Kogi State are now connected; a number in Zamfara are being connected this week; a number in Imo State are being connected this week.
“In the next six months, our goal is to reach at least eight of the states within the country to demonstrate the pilot and the goal is to then take it from there and cover the entire country.
“We believe that if these local government Secretariat are connected, because they’re the closest form of government, to our people, that we can help them use technology to serve the people better, but also it can enhance security significantly as well.
“The second thing we’re doing, which the President has backed is actually now investment in extending our backbone for connectivity. Again, what drives connectivity in any country is the fibre optic network.
“This is the biggest foundation for connectivity. Nigeria is projected to invest in 120,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable to be able to cover the entire country. At the minutes were at about 35,000 kilometres that 5000 kilometres.
“We’ve done the numbers working with the best companies in this space. It will cost us less than a billion to complete the deployment of fibre optic cable. And the President is given the go-ahead for us to source funds for that.
“So, we are in the process of setting up a 2 billion $2 billion fund I said it costs less than 1 billion. But the reason why we’re setting up a $2 billion fund is to use the balance to drive down the cost of connectivity in the country.
“We want to ensure that all schools are connected all hospitals in the country, that country that they are connected, and also all government facilities as well. So we are in the process of setting up this fund.”
