- Safiu Kehinde
The Director-General of ECOWAS Food and Cultural Festival (EFCF), Amb. Felix Ihonre, has urged Nigeria President and Chairman of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government, Bola Tinubu, to ensure three square meals a day for every citizen of the community and family in the next five years.
Ihnonre made the call at the Post-Festival Stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja.
According to reports the EFCF, a body that is geared towards having a zero hunger tolerance within the ECOWAS countries held the food and cultural festival in Uyo, Akwa Ibom between Oct. 6 and 11, 2024.
Ihonre expressed optimism that President Tinubu as Chairman of ECOWAS has the capacity to champion the cause.
According to him, ECOWAS should put in place high level governments’ commitment to ensure that every citizen and family within ECOWAS countries can boast of three square meals a day.
“On behalf of the ECOWAS Food and Cultural Festival, a body that is geared towards having a zero hunger tolerance within the member-states of the region, we are calling on President Bola Tinubu as the Chairman of ECOWAS to ensure three square meals a day for every ECOWAS citizen and family in the next five year.
“We know that the President has the capacity to champion this cause that is why we are giving a probational period of five years for us to achieving this goal of having at least three square meals a day for every ECOWAS citizen and family.
“We are not saying next year or next three years, we are saying every citizen and family in the next five years should be boast of having three square meals in their homes within the ECOWAS sub region.
“This will make every citizen to be happy, peaceful and play the role they are supposed to play within the region.”
The EFCF boss said that his organisation had initiated an Agropreneurship Legacy project aimed at having a secured food security region.
“The Agropreneurship Legacy project of ECOWAS Food and Cultural Festival, is like a hub. In one hub, you will have demonstration farms, In one hub, you will have processing factories, packaging industry as well youths and women being trained on how they manage their various farms at various locations.
“In one hub, there will be a lot of research activities on how to improve in our agricultural production and how we can secure that approach of having a secured food security region.
“And in one hub where so many people can come together to be busy with one business that will make West African community to grow higher than what they are in terms of import, export promotion activities within the region.
“This initiative also aims to supply food to our people and those food that cannot be harnessed which are seasonal and being wasted, through the agropreneurship project, these food will be conserved for usage during dry season farming and for export for other countries where they are hunger and malnutrition.
“This, we hope, will take off in the next five years. That is why we are calling on our President and giving a probational period of five years for us to achieving this goal of having at least three square meals a day for every ECOWAS citizen and family,” he said.