Osun Speaker orders lawmakers to go into farming over food scarcity

Abimbola Abatta, Osogbo

Speaker, Osun State House of Assembly, Mr Timothy Owoeye, has on Tuesday directed members of the House to go into farming as part of the efforts to tackle food insufficiency in the state.

Owoeye stated that it was becoming worrisome that people in the South-West region were neglecting farming and becoming over-dependent on food items from other regions of the country.

He said the strike by meat and food sellers concerning food items being brought to the South-West had shown that the region would suffer acute food shortage if other regions decided to stop bringing in their food items.

According to him, “As a measure to encourage people to return to farming, the 26 lawmakers in the assembly would be allocated 10 acres of land each to plant food crops.

“The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Dayo Adewole, would be summoned to appear before the House to allocate farmlands to the lawmakers which they would pay for.

“Thursday and Friday will thereafter be declared as farming days for the lawmakers so that they can take farming seriously.’’

The Assembly, thereafter, passed a bill, “The Osun Private Veterinary and Ambulatory Practice Regulation Bill, 2020” seeking to check and curb the activities of unregistered and quack veterinary doctors for second reading.