Wednesday 11th June 2014…
The conference resumed sitting at 9:02 am, presided over by the chairman
Votes and proceedings of the previous day were read, amended and adopted as amended.
Announcement:
The deputy chairman announced to the conference that Delegate Prof. Yusuf Turaki, lost his son on Tuesday 10th of June 2014. The Deputy Chairman, on behalf of the chairman and the conference, commiserated with the delegate and members of his family. He further said that a condolence letter would be sent to the bereaved family.
Adoption of report of committee on Religion;
The deputy chairman called on the co-chair of committee on religion Nuruddeen Lemu, to brief the conference on the outcome of the consultation over the deferred issue of proposed establishment of Religious Equity Commission (RECOM) and the abolition of pilgrims boards – remember I briefed you on this on my previous post, how this almost caused a fight on the floor of the conference and how the issue was bracketed to be revisited? The co-chairman explained that after wide consultation, the most agreeable position amongst delegate was to retain the original proposal of the committee – establishment of religion equity commission (RECOM) and phased abolition of pilgrim’s board. He therefore urged delegates to adopt the committee recommendation on deferred issue as originally proposed and it was unanimously accepted by delegates when the question was put to vote.
After which the committee on religions report was adopted as amended.
Conference concluded voting of the additional recommendation of the committee on Agriculture and water resources which was debated on yesterday – 10th June 2014.
These were some of the additional recommendations adopted;
- States and local governments across the country should revitalize the already existing skills acquisition and agricultural training centers in each senatorial district as an initiative towards agricultural transformation. It is believed that when this is done, agriculture would be made attractive to the youth and would become a viable platform for job creation and poverty alleviation.
- Urged Government to ensure that all the isolated programmes set up to generate employment or create wealth that are working at cross-purposes or duplicating each other are harmonized and operated under a single national scheme to achieve a common objective.
- In order to make farming attractive to the younger generation, Conference demanded a policy prohibiting any educational institution, from primary to secondary, from using farm work as a form of punishment for students’ misbehavior. Where agriculture is associated with punishment and drudgery; “it does not encourage young minds to be excited about, or look forward to the life of a noble farmer; a positive attitude towards agriculture is essential.
- On loss of soil fertility, urged government to formulating policies to take cognizance of climate change and desertification by introducing species of trees and crops that are easily adapted to deserts and requires minimum water to survive.
- Government “should invest heavily in Date Palm plantations to develop its related industries in communities with serious desert encroachment challenges.”
- It was the position of the delgates that some animal species which are hunted as game and locally referred to as bush meat are being depleted and virtually becoming extinct except something was done about it and rapidly too. It was therefore agreed that government should encourage and promote large scale breeding and domestication of these species of animal.
- Bio-Safety Bill that will regulate trans-border movement of genetically modified drugs should be initiated and enacted by the National Assembly without further delay.
This would check indiscriminate importation of genetically modified drugs that are not suitable for the country.
- On irrigation, it was recommended that major irrigation infrastructure in the North West be extended to other parts of the country as a way of boosting farming in those areas. Man-power development or capacity building and training programmes on the management, operation and maintenance of the different components of large scale irrigation schemes whether surface, non-pressurized or pressured, should be intensified by government.
- Building of rural roads that will link up farmlands with the urban market to facilitate faster evacuation of farm produce.
- A diligent and holistic study of all large dams across the country was also recommended with a view to determining their functional conditions, and carry out repairs where necessary.
- Flood plain agriculture should be included in the irrigation programme as a check against unnecessary flooding.
- Involvement of farmers, herdsmen and rural dwellers in formulating policies pertaining to soil degradation in a bid to achieve a bottom-up-approach in addressing the problems of soil degradation.
- Need for unified agricultural extension system that would involve visiting and training farmers within the area of coverage.
- Fertilizer production plants be established in different parts of the country to meet the growing demands by farmers and also save the needed foreign exchange spent on importation of the product.
- Appropriate policy should be put in place to facilitate the participation of people living with disability to enable them to enjoy low interest on loan and 50% subsidy on farm inputs.
- Demand policy makers to ensure that Nigeria participates in agricultural research programmes at both the continental and regional levels so as to benefit from the results of such research.
- Government should grant low interest and long tenured micro-credit loans to assist the private sector to support agricultural development. In addition to existing budgetary allocation, “30% of the National Resources Fund be used for the development of agricultural sector while an additional 20% of the fund be used for the development of water resources especially the mechanized deep sea fishing which is a major foreign exchange earner.”
- Urgent review of the curriculum of agricultural research institutes across the country to reflect more of the practical and less theoretical aspects of agricultural research.
- Access to safe and adequate water as a fundamental human right.
- A holistic study of all dams in the country to determine their state and to take immediate action where maintenance or repair is required.
The report of the committee on Agriculture and water resources was finally after plenty amendment adopted as amended with the exclusion of the recommendation on the removal of the land use act from the constitution – this matter is still bracketed as decision is yet to be reached on it by the conference, I am part of the consensus building committee trying to resolve this very contentious matter.
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