By Temidayo Akinsuyi

Prince Tony Momoh, a former Minister of Information, has admitted that there is hunger in the country but added that President Muhammadu Buhari is addressing it through massive investment in agriculture especially production of locally grown rice.

Speaking in an interview with INDEPENDENT, Momoh, who is one of the national leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), also said it is unfair for the opposition especially the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to claim that President Buhari has achieved nothing since assuming office in May 2015.

Momoh also said President Buhari’s economic policies is not responsible for the hunger being experienced in the country.

He said “There is hunger in the land but if you pray to be fed, the answer to that prayer is food. You either grow it or buy it. Look at what we are growing and how much we have saved fighting importation of food and growing food.

“We have also saved a lot with the school feeding programme through people in the area growing the food and women in the area cooking the food. All these are areas of meeting the hunger problem.

“No! The hunger is not as a result of the President’s economic policies. I told you that the answer to the prayer to be fed is food. Yes, there is hunger in the land but do you know how much we spend in importing rice everyday and how much we save trying to grow the rice? You cannot say because you are hungry and today, you want to plant food today and then harvest it and eat it today.

“In nature, there is no accident. There is no shortcut in nature. I interviewed Fidel Castro when I was Minister and I also spoke to Jerry Rawlings. Those two leaders mobilised their people for productivity. You know the sacrifices their countries had to make and the tough choices they had to make to be able to feed themselves.

“Then you will know that when there is hunger in the land, you do not go to the church or mosque to pray for food to come without growing it. You need to have money to buy the food or you have to grow the food to eat. Nobody can say that the Buhari administration has not faced agriculture frontally and that the harvest has not been commendable,” he said.