Business
Bizman Urges Change Of Attitude Towards Agric
A Port Harcourt-based
businessman, Prince Emmanuel Ogba, has described agriculture as one of the best business endeavours in the country.
Ogba who spoke to The Tide, last Monday in Port Harcourt said apart from providing enough food for one’s family, agriculture remains very profitable.
He however regretted that most able-bodied youths consider agriculture as a venture for the peasants and those who do not have alternative occupations and urged them to change their mindset as he described it as erroneous impression.
Ogba who is the Managing Director of Nedal Group of Companies also said that agriculture was the oldest form of business in the world and urged youths of Niger Delta region to take advantage of the mass arable land and rivers to sustain themselves instead of hunting for white collar jobs that are difficult to come by.
He commended the federal and some state governments for their massive encouragement in agriculture particularly the no-tax stance on it.
Ogba, however, blamed the local government areas for not doing much in encouraging their indigenes towards participation in agriculture.
He advised the councils to initiate more loans to the farmers.
The director also urged the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to pay more attention to the agric development of the areas, saying such step would touch more people in the region instead of embarking on wild and elephant projects.
He advised that NDDC should establish agric centres in all the local government areas in the Nine NDDC states as a way of co-ordinating agric business.
“By so doing more people would be carried along, there would be more food, employment opportunities and it would help in reducing crimes, particularly youth related crimes in the region”, he said.
Chris Oluoh