Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh on Thursday in Abuja disclosed that Nigerians eat poisonous food on daily in the process of feeding.
The Minister made the disclosure yesterday at a one day Public Hearing on Food security bills organized by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

Stating this at a one day Public Hearing on Food security bills organized by the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, he noted that there was wrong processing of food which makes it unhealthy for consumption.

He specifically gave example of ‘moi moi’ prepared in cellophane, locally known as nylon, as poisonous, which according to him, contained a large dosage of dioxins that were naturally impotent in leaves when used to package the delicacy.

The Minister also explained that consumption of sachet (pure) water exposed to sun at over 28degree centigrade is poisonous which is resulting into many cases of kidney and liver failure, amongst Nigerians.

He added that “if not for our practice of over boiling meat, many Nigerians would have been infected by Tuberculosis from consumption of cow meat.”

“Many of the cows being moved from one place to the other by herdsmen are already infected with tuberculosis but our practice of boiling meat very well here has been the saving grace from people being infected with the deadly disease”, he said.

Smuggled frozen chicken preserved with formalin which is also used for preservation of dead bodies, according to the minister, had been potent poison being consumed by Nigerians with attendant serious health challenges in the land.

He also cited example of beans and grains preservation with over dosage of pesticides by farmers and sellers as another dangerous food poison that had killed many Nigerians and still killing unsuspecting buyers and consumers.

Wrong application of fertilizer by farmers on their farm land , the minister noted, has also led to poisonous consumption of food items.

“Unknowingly to many of the farmers, there is specific fertilizer for specific crops in specific state in line with soil texture”, he explained.

The Minister commended the Senate committee for working on the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service Bill 2016, Food Security Bill 2016 and Nigerian Institute of Soil Science Bill 2016, which according to him, would help in food security in the country and curbing production of poisonous foods.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki in his speech at the occasion, said the need for food security in the country and vibrant agricultural sector for the needed diversification of the Nation’s economy , moved the Senate into introducing the bills and working on them.