Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi (left), receiving an Audited Report from the Acting Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, who visited the Ministry in Abuja on Monday. With them is the Minister of State for Solid Minerals Development, Mr Abubakar Bwari.

An agricultural consultant, Mr Oluwadamilohun Osibanjo, urged the Federal Government to provide adequate funding and infrastructural facilities, to make farming attractive to the youths.
Osibanjo told newsmen in Lagos that for youths to embrace farming, the occupation must be made sophisticated and funding must be made available.
According to him, the latest drop in crude prices has intensified worries over the economic outlook for major oil producers.
“As a result of this fall, an urgent diversification of economy to the agricultural sector seems appropriate,’’ he said.
He said that the major way the government could diversify the economy was to create an avenue for youths to be fully engaged in small and large scale farming, to contribute to sustainable employment.
“The present capacity of Nigerian youths can be instrumental to agriculture.
“In the past, farming has been made to look tedious, but it has soon evolved from that to a more sophisticated level.
“I believe once you adequately educate the youths on these new realities and show them the profit margin, how easy it is to make turnover, they would get curious about farming.
“If the government can also provide them with one plot each for selected persons, provide access to funding, the turnover will be massive,” Osibanjo said.
The consultant also said that the government must also give financial assistance in terms of driving policies on provision of loans, with lower interest rates for farmers, to encourage further participation.
“Funding can be a major barrier. Banks do not make it easy with their interest rates; this also needs to be sorted out because without funding, nothing major can be achieved,” he said.