By John Oba
Abuja
The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural development has signed a N25 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tuns Farms Nigeria Limited on the National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO).
Speaking during the signing ceremony yesterday in Abuja, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said the scheme which will be financed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) is an evidence of the current administration commitment to the school feeding programme.
Ogbeh assured of the full support of the ministry towards the success of the scheme, saying” We will give you every support to grow and teach others.”
He said “the scheme besides boosting economic activities in rural areas was imperative to the commencement of the school feeding programme aimed to give school children at least 3 eggs per child a week.”
Ogbeh called on the BOI, and other stakeholders to give full support to the scheme towards ensuring the well-being of the society The minister however, expressed anxiety at the peculiar temperature challenges of the various zones particularly in the North which witnessed as low as 40%c in February and March, increasing the mortality of birds and cautioned the farm to consider those peculiarities with a view to overcoming those challenges.
Chairman of Tuns Farm Nigeria Limited, Chief Tunde Badmos said “the MoU is aimed at creating 1million jobs and providing 50 million eggs on a daily basis by the year 2018”.
He said the programme would spread out to all 744 local governments of the federation with the aim of providing sufficient eggs for the school feeding programme while meeting the protein demands of the nation.
