NIGERIA

The Honourable Alhaji Muhammadu A. Gambo, Minister for Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

I have the honour to address you on this memorable occasion of the World Food Summit in the ancient city of Rome, during which I expect far-reaching decisions to be taken on the urgent issues of hunger and malnutrition in parts of the world. We thank the Government and people of Italy for their wonderful hospitality and the excellent facilities provided for this august Summit. I also congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on your election. The manner in which you and the bureau have been handling this meeting is very commendable. I pay special tribute to the Director-General of FAO, Dr. Jacques Diouf, and the World Food Summit Secretariat for their initiatives in convening and making this Summit a reality.

Access to food must be considered an unalienable right of every man, women and child on earth. It is therefore expected that this Summit will come up with workable policies and a Plan of Action that would ensure the attainment of global food security. I wish in this regard to emphasize the plight of developing countries especially those in sub-Saharan Africa. Unless the severe economic and social problems, such as the debt burden that faces some of these countries, receive global attention, food security and economic development in this part of the world will remain unattainable.

Our country, Nigeria, is vigorously pursuing economic development and food security programmes. We have embarked on macro-economic policy reforms and the sanitization of our financial sector. To further enhance the attainment of food security, various programmes including youth employment in agriculture have been put in place by Government, working in partnership with the private sector. Nigeria will also invest more in fertilizer production utilizing local raw materials and expand its vaccine and veterinary drugs production to meet the demands of our sub-region. In addition, we are increasing our investment in research and appropriate technology in water resources development.

Co-operation among nations in terms of beneficial trade and technical cooperation is vital for growth and development. However, trading must not be the major cause of disruption and displacement of national production and producers in developing countries whose major source of foreign exchange is agriculture.

While we commend the global Plan of Action for the utilization and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, we are of the opinion that there remains a lot to be done in certain aspects. While the Uruguay Round, for the first time in 50 years of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, liberalized agricultural trade and brought it under the WTO, the "mutual benefit" envisaged is heavily tilted in favour of developed countries in terms of technology and efficiency of production, resource availability and competitiveness in the market place. We therefore support the commencement of negotiations and an urgent review of all negative effects and imbalances.

I wish to assure you that Nigeria will do its best to support the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the Plan of Action adopted by this Summit.