The Southern Nigerian People’s Mandate (SNPM), a coalition of civil societies, wants President Bola Tinubu to use technology to flush out terrorists occupying extensive farmlands across the country.
The President of SNPM, Elder Augustine Chukwudum, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Enugu that the pervasive hunger in the country was due to the inability of farmers to access their farmlands within their communities.
Chukwudum noted that more than 50 per cent of farmers in the northern part of the country which produces more than 85 per cent of the food consumed in Nigeria and neighbouring countries cannot go to their farms anymore because of terrorists.
He said that within few years, terrorists in various guise had succeeded in chasing away farmers from farmlands in the country, especially in the north and southern states bordering the northern states.
The SNPM boss noted that terrorists had kidnapped farmers for ransom, killed some while those who remain are paying various forms of food stuff taxes to terrorists in other to access their farmlands.
According to him, the issue of hunger in the country is something that if not addressed will lead to disaster that the country can never recover from, as any country that neglects agriculture ends up in ruins.
He said: “President Bola Tinubu must involve technology such as drones to flush out these terrorists immediately to end insecurity in the country and enable our farmers to return peacefully to their farmlands.
“The Federal and State Governments must work with traditional rulers at the community levels to beef up community security and know when foreign intruders come in, especially from other African countries.
Chukwudum also urged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria to deploy measures to strengthen the naira, which would reduce the cost of agricultural inputs and equipment as well as their transportation.
He said: “There should be a flexible tractors’ purchase or hiring scheme for farmers to enable them operate mechanised farming and large-scale cultivation and harvesting.
“Nigeria, as a blessed country, has excess arable land for farming and we have hard-working farmers who can produce excess food at affordable prices, while the remaining will be processed for export thereby creating more jobs and money to the people.”