Abuja — The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, has said the federal government would partner Netherlands to address critical issues of agriculture that would guarantee food security.
Bagudu disclosed this when he received in his office in Abuja the chief executive of SNV Netherlands Development Organization, Mr. Simon O'Connell, saying the visit aligned with the sustainable solutions being sought by the federal government in some critical sectors of the economy.
He said the assistance of the Netherlands company would be critical towards addressing challenges in the country's agricultural sector, particularly food insecurity.
The minister assured the delegation that the ministry would partner with them, particularly in the area of gainfully engaging the youth population productively, revealing that the Netherlands Development Organization had three core areas of sectoral focus - Agriculture (-food,) , water and energy, which had significantly impacted on the three sectors globally.
"These are really areas that are consistent with the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Tinubu. We have a minister for youth, and minister for digital economy, a young man himself.
"We also have the minister for women affairs on gender issues. We can call and arrange another meeting, so we can see how we will expand this discussion.
"Again, we can involve some of the commissioners of economic planning in the states. We have what is called a community of practice mechanism where we communicate with them to see how much you can help us with or how much we can partner."
According to him, the focus of the Netherlands government aligns with the priority areas of the present administration, which is agriculture and food security.
These areas, according to him, are the biggest sources of income generation for the country, considering the ability of the sectors to help reduce inflation.
In his remarks, the head of the delegation, Mr. Simon O'Connell, said SNV was looking forward to increasing rice production in the country, as Nigeria is the biggest country in Africa blessed with natural resources.
He said apart from the three core areas of sectoral focus by the organization, which is food, water, and energy, SNV also had deep focus on gender equality and social inclusion, climate adaptation and mitigation, and the strengthening of institutions.
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"I know here in Nigeria there is significant horticultural activity. I know here in Nigeria rice production is an area that can be scaled further. Also involved in the energy sector. We've established and put in place one million youngters globally.
"We're part of the Africa Biogas Initiative and we see tremendous opportunities to accelerate access to cleaner renewable forms of energy in Nigeria and we would be happy to explore further in this area.
"We are in the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet with the Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation and the Bezos Earth Fund and we're establishing nine mini-grids for solar energy, for irrigated agriculture in Ethiopia and we know there are opportunities to take some of the learnings from Ethiopia through to here in Nigeria.
"SNV is a Netherlands company established in 1965 as a part of the Dutch government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contributing to development impacts all over the world and it became an independent foundation in 2002.
"The organization currently operates in approximately 25 countries around the world," O'Connell said.
