The Lagos State Government says discussion about the development of agricultural commodity value chain with Niger State aimed at ensurin...
The Lagos State Government says discussion about the development of agricultural commodity value chain with Niger State aimed at ensuring food security and job creation for the two states and the country has started.
The government on Wednesday added that the Lagos-Niger partnership, the second of its kind that the state would be entering into under the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration, would be directed at boosting the Gross Domestic Product of the two states.
Ambode, who spoke during a courtesy visit by the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakar Bello, to the Lagos House, Ikeja, said the state had also entered into partnership with Kebbi State on the development of the agricultural commodity value chain.
He added that the Lagos-Niger partnership was aimed at producing 70 per cent of Nigeria’s rice requirements annually, as well as boosting the production of wheat, groundnut, maize, millet, sorghum and sugarcane, among others.
He said, “This relationship is visionary and it is also a pointer to the fact that the two states have decided to openly support the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“We must look inward. We must start to reintegrate our economy in such a manner that we must not continue to import what we can produce and we must create a value chain where we have comparative advantage to do so.”
Bello said the discussion centered on how to explore the comparative advantage of the two states to the benefit of people in the country.
He said, “Our discussion centered on agriculture and how Niger State can partner Lagos State to boost agriculture to the benefit of both states and Nigeria.”
