Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has been appointed as the chairperson of the National Project Steering and Deployment Committee (NPSDC) for innovative strengthening of smallholder farmers capabilities in Nigeria.
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye, who made the announcement today in a statement, said, “The committee’s mandate includes strengthening smallholder farmers’ capabilities towards productive land restoration amid COVID-19 in Nigeria. It seeks to build resilient communities and ensuring food security.”
According to the statement, “The setting up of the committee comes amid the growing stature of AbdulRazaq owing largely to his commitments to issues of sustainable development goals (SDGs) such as education, health, gender equality, climate action, and eradication of poverty, sustainable agriculture and food security, among others.
The committee, which is to lead the national implementation of the Africa Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) initiatives on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprises the subnational governments of Nasarawa, Yobe, Bauchi, Kano, Kebbi, Ebonyi, Imo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, and Ondo.
Federal government agencies included in the committee are the Ministries of Education, Power, Environment, Budget and National Planning, and Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority.
Other members include the Nigerian Farmers Association, Nigerian Women in Agriculture, Youth Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture, Central Bank of Nigeria, Development Bank of Nigeria, Bank of Agriculture, Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing Systems for Agricultural Lending, and the Dangote Group.
The Ravens learnt that the mandate of the committee, among other things, is to provide strategic leadership and policy orientation of the AUDA-NEPAD approach and projects in Nigeria, and to oversee progress of the project implementation, review and approval of result based periodic reports of the projects.