Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has alleged that neighbouring African countries begged Nigeria for food during the recent lockdown caused by COVID-19.
The Minister revealed this during an interview on Instagram with City People Magazine where he spoke on the Economic Sustainability Plan created by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Fashola said the plan detailed steps which will ensure that the Nigerian economy is able to withstand shocks occasioned by the pandemic.
“We are looking at constructing roads with more stones, more cement, more iron rods so that more people will be employed. For example, it will take 14 people to build a kilometre of road. So, if you are doing more kilometres, it will demand more labour and materials, so, these are some of the bolts and nuts of that plan, he said.
“Agriculture is another critical part of the Economic Sustainability Plan. We want to increase the cultivatable lands in the country. We are currently cultivating just about one-third and I stand to be corrected on that figure – the minister of agriculture knows the numbers than I do. But in his presentation, as I recollect it, we are not cultivating enough lands. We want to double cultivation, increase food output, not just for local use but for export.
“I must say to Nigerians that because of the success of the agriculture programme which is still evolving, during this COVID exercise, many countries were writing to us from near and far, asking us to please supply them food. This is not in the public space but President Buhari’s priority was, tell them to wait, we must feed our people first before we send out food, we don’t know when this is going to end.
“So, we want to see more value-added in the sector in terms of processing and cultivation. We are losing an unsatisfactory quantity of our agro produce to many factors – transport, cooling, heating and so on. These are some of the components that the Ministry of Agriculture will share in the next few months about how to ensure that we preserve many more of what we produce and lose less.”
Fashola also revealed that the National Housing Project which the Buhari administration started in 2016 is still running. He however admitted that his ministry did not carry out a proper study of the Housing needs of Nigerians.
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He said there is a realisation now that cultural differences impact the way people live.
“We learnt from the previous National Housing Scheme during the Shagari era that not everybody liked the way the Shagari houses were built. Whilst it was a laudable initiative by that administration, it did not really respond fully to all the aspirations of Nigerians in terms of the type of houses they want to live in.
“In all the 34 states which gave us lands, we have completed the houses. We have now started a second phase in many of those houses close to where the first phase was.”
Fashola said further that consequent upon this realisation, the Federal Government now provided a site and service scheme for individuals who want to build their houses for themselves but need amenities made available by the government.
“All over the world, the truism is that not everybody will be able to own a home but they deserve some kind of shelter. Some people have to rent. So, the Federal Government provides Home Renovation Loan which helps some people subsidise their rent, renovate their houses and so forth.
“We are also intervening in the housing sector by issuing titled documents. We’re issuing Certificates of Occupancy. I have signed over 3,400 C of Os in the last two years,” he added.
He also spoke on the progress of construction and maintenance of Federal roads across the country.
“We are making appreciable progress, we have over 600 different contracts. We had hoped that this year, we will complete about 22 major roads between this year and 2021. We have lost three months which is March and now (June) which is our most prolific period before the rainy season. But we will pick up sometimes around Septembe
We have lost three months which is March and now (June) which is our most prolific period before the rainy season. But we will pick up sometimes around September.”
Fashola thereafter concluded the session by speaking on the management of COVID-19 in the country so far.
We were better equipped with information at the time Ebola broke out. The Ebola Virus has been under observation and study especially in East and Central Africa for over 40 years. So, there was a lot of knowledge about its parameters, what to expect, what not to expect. And it was with that information that we were able to respond.
“Those who are battling coronavirus today have only six months knowledge of this virus. So, the parameters of what to look for are constantly changing. In the beginning, we thought that temperature was a good standard – that everybody who had it will have high temperature.
“We now know better that some people will have no symptoms at all. Some people lose sense of taste, they lose their sense of smell, they have headache. I know there are many scientists in the world today doing a lot of research, pathology works from those who have been infected and died trying to understudy the virus.
“What to do now is to follow new advise, wear masks, keep social distancing. If we do that, we will help health workers reduce their workload and help them lead us out of this pandemic.”
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