Buhari
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has
declared that given the reality of the global financial situation, the time has
come for Nigerians to do more than pay mere lip service to agriculture, as
crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major
revenue earner.
Buhari made the declaration at an
audience with Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian-born President of the
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential
Villa, Abuja.
The President said: “It’s time to go
back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended
on for so long will no longer suffice. We campaigned heavily on agriculture,
and we are ready to assist as many as want to go into agricultural ventures.”
The President pledged that his
administration would cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian
farmers had to go through to get any form of assistance from government.
He told the IFAD President that
improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming and creative
ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad would also receive the attention
of his administration.
“There is so much to be done. We
will try and articulate a programme and consult organisations like IFAD for
advise,” Buhari said, adding that foreign exchange will be conserved for
machinery and other items needed for production, “instead of using it to import
things like toothpicks.”
Nwanze congratulated the President
on his victory at the general elections and assured him that IFAD was ready to
give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to
boost agricultural production in the country.
IFAD is an international organisation dedicated
to addressing issues of agriculture and poverty alleviation. It was established
in 1978 and has been collaborating Source: http://newngrguardiannewscom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bUHARI-Copy.jpg
No comments:
Post a Comment