Abuja – The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh says that plans are on the way to ensure farmers own majority of the shares in the Bank of Agriculture (BoA).
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is contained in a statement signed by the Director of Information in the ministry, Mr Tony Ohaeri and was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
According to the statement, Ogbeh made the statement while receiving the poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) in his office.
“On the restructuring of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), plans were ongoing to ensure that farmers owned the majority shares of BOA.
“And to sit on the board of the bank, this would enable the farmers to draw more benefits from the bank’’, the minister was quoted as saying.
As a way of enforcing bio-security measures in the poultry industry, Ogbeh said the Federal Government had resolved to close down all unregistered poultry farms in the country.
Ogbeh charged poultry farmers to be more disciplined on the issue of hygiene in the operations of their farms and urged them to always report incidences of diseases to avoid further losses.
He said it is only by registering with government and PAN that effective containment and control of outbreaks of diseases could be successful.
The minister assured the poultry farmers of government’s resolve to conduct a verification to ensure the authenticity of claims by farmers affected by Avian Influenza, with a view to finding possible ways of paying.
He said a dedicated Website would soon be opened by government to educate Nigerians on the dangers and health implications of consuming smuggled goods.
Earlier, the National President of PAN, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, pledged the readiness of the association to work with relevant government agencies to produce affordable products for Nigerians.
Oduntan said the poultry value chain has contributed among others over 25 per cent of the Agricultural GDP of the Nigerian economy with a current worth of US $8 billion.
He urged government to give adequate attention and protection to the poultry industry by putting up strong measures to immediately control, contain and bring to a halt the further decimation of the industry by Avian Influenza.
He described the Minister as a passionate, experienced and vast in the knowledge of agriculture and called for a complete revolution of the agricultural sector in Nigeria. (NAN)
