Nigeria will adopt AU measures on food crisis - Kassim

Alhaji Sullaimon Kassim, during the
African Union meetingThe leader of Nigerian delegation to the Sixth Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Labour and Social Affairs Commission (LSAC), and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Alhaji Sullaimon Kassim, spoke with our Assistant Editor, Soji-Eze Fagbemi, who attended the session, immediately after the meeting, which held at the AU Headquarters, Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia. He spoke on Nigeria’s participation and how the AU declaration on food crisis will help in solving the problem in the country. Excerpts:

Nigeria is one the 53 member states in Africa that participated in this meeting, how will you assess the country’s participation and what it stands to gain?
Our participation here has been excellent. It has been wonderful and result oriented in all ramifications. Nigeria is an active member of International Labour Oorganisation (ILO) and we have ratified over 37 conventions of ILO and we have always been visible in the activities of ILO. Today, this meeting definitely gave Nigeria the clout and the opportunities to further serve the African continent, particularly the West African Sub-Region. This was manifested in our nomination for the titular chair at the governing body of the ILO.

Nigeria received a very encouraging recognition at the meeting, and as you said, the country’s candidature was widely accepted and approved by the meeting, while the ILO Director-General, Juan Somavia, singled out a Nigerian, Amadi Njoku, who is the regional director of ILO for commendation. As the head of Nigeria delegation here, how did you feel?
I felt very proud of that identification and that shows the kind of hard work that Nigerians put in, in any endeavour. Nigerians have always distinguished themselves in wherever they found themselves. So, I wasn’t surprised when the Director-General of the ILO singled out the Nigerian to indicate how proud he is of her achievements within the context of the ILO.

Just recently, the Minister of Agriculture raised a fundamental issue of an imminent hunger in the country, as a result of food crisis. Coming to this meeting, the same issue was raised leading to a declaration on food crisis by the African Union Labour and Social Affairs Commission. In what way will the Nigerian situation be affected by measures being adopted by the AU on food crisis?
The issue of food crisis or hunger is a global one. If you have been watching the international networks like the CNN, BBC, and other cable network, you will find that the issue of hunger and food crisis affects almost all the countries of the world, both producers as well as the consumers. The issue raised at home by the Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources is just in conformity with what is going on around the world. The relevant agency of the United Nations (UN) in charge of food, obviously was the first to bring it to the attention of member states. So, Nigeria is going to be affected in the sense that our staple foods like rice are imported from other countries of the world and these countries are trying as much as possible to cut down on their exportation and if they cut down on their exportation, obviously, less will be coming into Nigeria, and when less comes into Nigeria, the prices will definitely go up. This is a simple economics, because the scarcity will be there, and once scarcity is there, definitely the prices will go up. Now, Nigeria definitely endorses the decisions of the ILO as well as the LSAC, on trying to critically examine how can we look into these problems and find a way of resolving it. Now you have to look at the short solutions and long term solutions because if you only take a short term solution, then what it means is that in the two or three years time, the same problems will come back. But you have to take the short term solutions as well as the long-term solutions, so, Nigeria is completely behind the approaches that are being looked into so that the issue of food crisis does not affect, particularly the poor countries seriously.

It has severally been acknowledged as a fact that with the national resources and arable of land Nigeria is blessed with, the nation has no reason to experience food crisis, while no Nigerian family has reason to go to bed hungry. With your position and what you have heard and seen in this meeting, what position will you canvass to the government and the people of Nigeria?
We have seen the position of the consumers too along with the government, the labour employers and the workers. We have seen exactly the sense of direction we have. The report of this meeting will be produced, a council note will be prepared and we will tell the government and Nigerians what is needed to be done to solve the food crisis. So, we will put forward solid recommendations for government to consider, so that the country can be self-sufficient in food production.