Atiku, Obi in trouble as Tinubu meets farmers, agro commodity groups in prominent northern state

The APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu continues his engagement with another strategic sector of the Nigerian economy, with a Town Hall meeting in Minna, Niger State on Monday, November 7.

Along with his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, Tinubu will meet farmers and the agro commodity groups in the state, which is notable for being a breadbasket of Nigeria.

Bayo Onanuga, director, media & publicity, APC Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), in a statement on Sunday, November 6, noted that Governor Abubakar Bello will host the meeting and the candidates.

Tinubu is expected to share his agenda on how he plans to build on the salutary foundation laid by President Muhammadu Buhari's administration in the agricultural sector.

Onanuga maintained that Tinubu will tell the farmers about how he will help them and their communities “in new and significant ways that usher in a true and complete rebirth of Nigerian agriculture”.

Among what the APC candidate promises, according to his Action Plan, are ramping up the cultivation of the nation’s arable land from 35 percent to 65 percent and the establishment of commodity board for strategic crops, such as cashew, cocoa, cassava, soya, rubber and groundnut.

As envisioned, the commodity board will improve price certainty for farmers and increase their capacity to produce more staple food to feed Nigeria’s burgeoning population.

The Minna Town Hall meeting is the second by Tinubu, following the successful meeting with Nigeria’s business leaders on Tuesday last week in Lagos.

Similar town hall meetings are scheduled for Lafia in Nasarawa state and Calabar, Cross River state, in the next few days before the mega rally in Jos on 15 November.