The Federal Government of Nigeria and the 36 state governors are committed to implementing the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP), the Presidency has said.
Mr Laolu Akande, the SSA Media and Publicity to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says there is a consensus to ensure that ranching and others forms of agriculture are inculcated in the Nigeria system.
Speaking on Channels TV Sunrise Daily on Saturday, he said that there is a consented effort to improve agriculture in the country and create new jobs through NLTP, “there’s a consensus at the National Economic Council by the federal government and the state government, they meet on a monthly basis, and on the consensus regarding the National Livestock Transformation Plan; a committee was set up by that Council presided over by the Vice President to look at the problems that are on the ground and come up with this plan considered by every governor in this country, so there is indeed a national consensus”, he said.
He added that progress has been achieved, as some states have implemented NLTP and others are in the process of doing same. “It is going on in some states like Adamawa and others will still join. The Europeans nations have even assisted with funding,” he explained.
“There might be some controversial narrative but state governors will tell you that there is consensus. Although we might need more funding”, he added.
Mr Akande also detailed the federal government’s intervention in cushioning the impact of COVID-19 through the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP). He noted that over two million Nigerians benefitted from the ESP chaired by the Vice President.
He explained that Nigerians who applied for Survival Funds, Payroll Support, Guaranteed Off-take among others have impacted on the economy by ensuring that new jobs are created and others retained. Jobs retained through MSME and Pay Roll support is put at 1.3 million.
“What we did for instance for the payroll and generally for all the survival fund under the MSMEs of the ESP is to say that look, if you have a business that has been impacted because of the pandemic, we opened a website that we tried to publicize as much as possible. So people registered and indicated interest.
“The same thing for the MSMEs that we are supporting, the transporters, and the artisans. We opened a website and people applied and in addition to that, we also identified some of the major trading associations like artisans, transporters, and others.”
“We tried to engage their local associations through their leadership and made available opportunity for them to identify their own members who can’t be beneficiaries. That way, we were able to open it up for everybody and then also went specifically to identify particular association or union and we met with their leadership. We sat together and figured out ways to ensure that people that we have in mind are the people that benefited.
“Essentially, it was a very open process and we have had quite a lot of requests; people applied online, also offline and that’s why we were able to come out with figures and also encouraged many of the beneficiaries to go online to tell their stories. The truth of the matter is that we have to do more, there is no doubt about that and we intend to do more going forward,” he said.
