Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos says residents of the state consume about N4.5 billion worth of food daily just as he reiterated commitment to food security.

“Lagos is a coastal state and has an extremely limited arable land space and home to about 21 million people. Its residents consume about N4.5 billion worth of food daily and 50 per cent of beef produced in the country running into several billions in other trading activities with markets cutting across all the local government areas in the state,” Mr Sanwo-Olu said.

The governor said that although Lagos covers only 0.4 per cent of Nigeria’s territorial land mass, making it the smallest state in the country, “It accounts for over 60 per cent of industrial and commercial activities.”

Mr Sanwo-Olu stated this on Monday in Lagos at the opening ceremony of a two-day zonal sensitisation workshop on the “Implementation of Food Systems Transformation Pathways in Nigeria 2022”.

The workshop was organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning in collaboration with Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Lagos Ministry of Economic, Planning and Budget.

Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti are participating with Lagos as coordinating state for the South-West geopolitical zone.

Represented by Sam Egube, Commissioner for Economic, Planning and Budget, Mr Sanwo-Olu called for joint collaboration among South-West states in implementing the Food Systems Transformation Pathways 2022.

He said that improving the food systems would influence positive changes and as well address multiple challenges being experienced in the country.

He added that the state agric roadmap was a deliberate effort to develop the agricultural sector by way of interventions from the public and private sector, international technical and donor organisations.

“I am aware that the need for states across the six geopolitical zones to be adequately sensitised on the implementation of the National Food Systems Transformation Pathways is the basis for this workshop.

“As a state government, we will continue to provide infrastructure and incentives to support all private sector initiatives where required.

“History has shown that any society that is unable to provide food guarantee, its security is open to abuse and utmost danger,” the governor said.

He commended the federal government’s unrelenting efforts to ensure that the food systems summit in conjunction with the United Nations is developed.

Mr Sanwo-Olu urged participants at the workshop to show commitment by sharing ideas and opinions on the selected programmes slated to kick-start implementation.

(NAN)