The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security has launched a mass field spray of pesticide to address the situation and save huge fields of plantations across the affected states. Speaking during the spray exercise, the Head of Kano and Jigawa Pest Control Service in the ministry, Malam Rukayya Tunau, stated that the Federal Government had made huge investment in the agriculture sector, especially during the dry-season, adding that it is unfortunate that the birds are currently posing a serious threat to farms in some areas.
Tunau added that farmers have been encouraged to use other means of controlling the birds before assistance from the ministry reaches them. She also revealed that the ministry had instituted several centres across the affected states in which farmers can access for immediate intervention against the bird’s attack. A representative of the farmers, Sagir Baranda informed that the prompt intervention by the Federal Government would assist farmers in the reduction of the bird’s invasion, adding that such interventions would certainly save hundreds of farmers from running at a loss and make farming safe and healthy.
Meanwhile, a renowned Professor of Solid Earth Physics, Olukayode Akinyemi, has disclosed that there is the need for the government to abolish indiscriminate and unprofessional siting of refuse dumps and encourage properly sited landfills sites. Prof. Akinyemi, during an interview, noted that siting of potable water sources close to dump sites could prove fatal as dangerous elements from the dump sites could seep into the water sources.
The don also advised that exploration of underground natural resources in Nigeria needed to be better coordinated with more robust frameworks and appropriate legal instruments, adding that “the military needs to collaborate with researchers from both military and non-military institutions to help in addressing subsurface forensic detections”. He noted that it had become absolutely necessary for targeted funding of exploration of geothermal energy potentials in the country as a viable energy alternative, stressing that a solution room where people from different backgrounds including students meet to constructively interrogate research ideas with a view to coming up with practicable solutions, should be encouraged.
