The Senate spokesman, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi (APC Niger North), declared on Monday in Abuja that the Bill on Agriculture, Industry and Modernisation currently before the Senate will transform Nigeria when passed into law.
Sabi who incidentally was the sponsor of the bill waiting for second reading, gave the assurance shortly after he received a Merit Award from the Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria (AESON) during their 24th annual conference holding in Abuja.
According to him, the bill when passed into law, will give the required legal framework for mechanized farming in the country.
He said: “A number of young boys today are not ready to do the kind of agriculture their parents or grandparents did, that is, using hoe and cutlass.
“They want a modern agriculture that is using all the necessary modern agricultural tools. And that is not possible without the necessary laws,
” Based on the research I conducted, knowing what happened in countries like Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Srilanca, Thailand and so many other South East Asian countries, I am convinced that if this bill come to play, definitely it will contribute in moving the agricultural sector forward interns of modernization”
Explaining further, Senator Abdullahi said the Agriculture, Industry and Modernization Bill seeks to place agriculture as the fulcrum of industrialization through modernizing the way Agriculture is practised in the country.
“What this means is that within the context of the bill, there will be policy formulation. We want to bring the national Council on Agriculture and make it a much more practical form where all contributors in the agricultural industry will come and discuss on the relevant policies as it affect agriculture.
“Currently, it is just an administrative routine where they go to conferences and by the time the council is gone, in many instances, you don’t achieve much.
“But here we have expanded the council to bring in both the private sector, farmers and various interest groups so that they will contribute to policy making” he added .
