Buhari urges West, Central Africa to mobilise youth for agric development

Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, has urged West and Central African countries to mobilise youth for agric development to generate employment, food production and wealth creation.

Buhari, who made the call in Abuja, at the opening of the 9th regional implementation forum for International Fund Agricultural Development, IFAD, supported projects in West and Central Africa, said population rise in Africa could only be sustained by young people in the sector.

Buhari who was represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh, said measures to curb rural-urban migration and rural development have to be on mobilising and engaging young people in the agric sector by providing the needed technology and provision of basic infrastructure in the rural areas.

 Ogbeh said a study undertaken by the Brooklyn Institution in 2012 underscored that at the continental level, Africa’s estimated population of 1.2 billion would double by 2050, with the attendant fact that about 70 percent of the population would be constituted by those within the age bracket of 30 years or less.

“Arising from this development is that the youth issues need to be addressed in both the rural and urban sectors to enable us avoid future problems. One of the ways to address this urgent concern is to accord priority attention to the transformation of agricultural production in the rural areas, with the youth population as agent of change and transformation, “ he stated.

During the forum, themed: ”Investing in Rural Youth, How do we Plant Seeds for the Future?”, IFAD President, Kanayo Nwanze, in his keynote said governments of West and Central Africa should heavily invest focus on young farmers to curb the unprecedented rise of youth restiveness and social vices.

Lamenting that over the past three decades, agricultural productivity has stagnated or declined, he said the development was not good for the continent or for young women and men and women.

“It is time to reverse decades of neglect of African agriculture. It must be reversed because when you abandon agriculture you abandon your nation’s ability to feed itself.”

Nwanze said  to meet  demand, young people need to be the farmers and food processors of tomorrow, not just to feed themselves and their villages, but to grow the food to feed African cities.

“But without investment in infrastructure, in economic activities and employment opportunities, there is an equally big risk that Africa’s demographic dividend will be squandered.

“If we want young people to stay and work in rural areas, there needs to be considerable investment in infrastructure. These include investment in processing plants, electricity, warehouses, roads and ports,” Nwanze stated.

TB: Nigeria ranks among countries with highest burden

On this year’s World Tuberculosis Day, the World Health Organisation ranks Nigeria one of the countries with the highest burden of Tuberculosis even as  TB deaths dropped 47 percent between 1990 and 2015. 

Tuberculosis is still a major public health problem in Nigeria, with the country ranking high among the high TB burden countries which collectively bear 80% of the global burden of TB that infects about half a million Nigerians every year, and kills 170,000. 

The number of TB cases notified in the country has increased over the last decade although more than 500,000 TB cases have been successfully treated free of charge over the same period and the burden in Nigeria is further compounded by the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic and the emergence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, disbursed a total of US$165,108,596 to TB control and prevention in Nigeria that recorded a total of 310,000 smear positive TB cases in 2015. 

In a statement to mark the World Tuberculosis Day, themed "Unite To End TB", the WHO calls on countries and partners to unite to end the scourge of TB as a target  in the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

The world health body notes that although there has been significant progress in the fight against TB, with 43 million lives saved since 2000, the battle is only half-won as over 4000 people lose their lives each day to TB.

Regretting that many communities most burdened by tuberculosis are the poor, vulnerable and marginalized, WHO says ending TB will only be achieved with greater collaboration within and across governments, and with partners from civil society, communities, researchers, the private sector and development agencies.

Further, WHO says there still formidable challenges despite the advances, adding that, fragile health systems, human resource and financial constraints, and the serious co-epidemics with HIV, diabetes, and tobacco use are still threatening the eradication processes.

“Multi-drug resistant TB, MDR-TB, is another critical challenge. Urgent and effective action to address antimicrobial resistance is key to ending TB by 2030. So are increased investments, as the global tuberculosis response remains underfunded for both implementation and research.”

According to WHO, in 2014, 9.6 million people fell ill with TB and 1.5 million died from the disease, including 380 000 among people living with HIV.

Lucica Ditiu, Executive Director for the Stop TB Partnership, said there are new strategies and a global commitment to end TB.

Ditiu says if the world really wants to end TB, “we need a paradigm shift, a change in the way we fight TB at every level, in every community, in every health facility, in every country. 

"This means changing the way we think of TB, adjusting our packages, policies and guidelines and putting people at the centre of our interventions, so we reach all the people that need them.”