Former Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Chairman, Alhaji Aliko Muhammed, on Sunday said Nigeria spends 1 billion naira on Rice importation daily which he described as unfortunate.

According to him, Nigeria cannot survive as a nation by depending on food importation to feed its citizens.

The former ACF Chairman disclosed this at Jamaiyar Matan Arewa stakeholders meeting held in Kaduna.

He explained that China has about 1.3 billion people but they still feed themselves without importing a single bag of rice from abroad.

“China has about 1.3 billion people but they don’t import food. They feed themselves but Nigeria whose population is less them China cannot feed its people without importing food.

“Today we spend almost 1 billion naira importing rice into this country daily despite our vast land and the money is increasing. The government needs to do something about it because we can’t sustain spending such a huge fund on importation of rice that we can produce here.

“Women need to influence their husbands to embrace farming and other agricultural activities. Nigeria has a vast land to use in farming and the authority concerned must be given out loans to encourage farming among its citizens,” he said.

According to him, the country must diversify its source of revenue due to fall in fuel prices in the global market and the complimenting sector is agriculture.

He equally expressed dismay over northern region economic backwardness compared to other regions in the country in terms of development.

In her remarks, Ambassador Fatima Sa’ad tasked women on unity, saying unity is a key for their progress.

She also frowned at how northern women are being discriminated upon by their male counterparts in the region.

•Photo shows Aliko Muhammed.