Invest Masively In Agriculture

For some time now, our airwaves, the social media have been dominated by talks on how bad Nigeria’s economy has become and the need to diversify our economy.
It is no longer news that the price of oil in the international market keeps going down and that has dealt big blow on countries like Nigeria whose main source of income is oil, thus the urgent need to consider the development of other sectors that will help in reviving the economy.
And which other sector easily comes to mind than the agricultural sector. With the large, fertile land Nigeria is blessed with, many say there is no reason for the country to lack food and other necessities of life if adequate investment had been made in the agricultural sector. But the total neglect of this viable sector over the years has made the country to depend on other countries for virtually every commodity used in the country.
So, investment in agriculture is the key to the revival and sustenance of our economy. This will also create plenty of job opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths in the country, thereby reducing crime in the society.
Nigeria is blessed with huge human capital, why can’t our nation be a place where people can come and manufacture goods at reduced cost and sell to other countries as is being done currently in China? That, of course, means that the power sector must also be looked into for there can be no industrialisation without constant power supply.
We need a true federation where every state should be autonomous, manage their natural resources and only pay a percentage to the Federal government. That will make every state look inwards and encourage competitive growth and self-reliance.

By: Nicholas Okpara, Owerri