The new Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, has reiterated the Federal Government’s commitment to ensuring food security in the country. The minister stated this when he assumed office with his Minister of State for Agriculture, Sen. (Dr.) Aliyu Abdullahi, in Abuja. He said that there is a big challenge to food security that is not impossible to overcome. Kyari said that he saw hope and commitment in President Bola Tinubu, when he declared food emergency in Nigeria, and made a huge commitment to revive agriculture and secure the nation’s food.
“Hunger is one of the big problems that we have in this country. And when I say hunger, it also means food, and there are challenges in production, and insecurity is one, and flooding is another”, he said. According to the minister, “there are other issues, but for me, and I think my colleagues and even state governors, the biggest hope we have is the political will driven by the President in his ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda. l also see that hope and commitment in him when he declared the food emergency in the country. Our target is not only to secure food and feed the country, but also to export food”, Kyari added.
Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abdullahi disclosed that the task before the ministry was a daunting one, which all hands must be on deck to make Nigeria self-sufficient. FarmingFarmersFarms gathered that Kyari was born on January 1, 1960, and he was senator representing Borno North Senatorial District of Borno State during the 9th National Assembly while his father was the late Brigadier Abba Kyari, former military administrator to North Central from 1967 to 1975.
He was educated in both Nigeria and the United States of America. The new minister attended Kaduna Capital School in 1974 before proceeding to the Barewa College, Zaria, where he obtained his West African School Certificate in Education in 1979. Kyari attended the University of Tennessee Martin in the USA and bagged Bachelor’s degree in 1986. Thereafter in 1989, he schooled at the Webster University St. Louis, Missouri, USA for his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree. Prior to becoming a Senator, he was a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2003, and from 2003 to 2005, he was made commissioner in Borno State while from 2007 to 2011, he continued as a commissioner, among others.