By Mustapha Sumaila
Sen. Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Niger Delta Affairs, says that the current Coronavirus crises period presents the best opportunity for Nigerians to go into agriculture.
Enang gave the advice on Thursday in Abuja when he appeared on a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum.
He explained that the crash in global oil prices as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic was an indication that crude oil was not sustainable.
According to him, Nigeria should rather be celebrating the opportunity instead of mourning, by utilising it to better their lives and the country through agriculture.
“It is the best time for Nigeria to behave like America and other developed countries so as to sustain their own economy
“It is time to explore and go into agriculture fully, a lot has been done by the Northern region in utilising their land for agriculture.
“But for my people in the South, especially those in the South-South, they must toe the same line with the North to cultivate their fertile arable land.
“If you go to the northern part of the country, from Maiduguri to Kano, to Katsina, to Sokoto and Adamawa down to Abuja, you will not find vacant land,’’ he said.
The Presidential aide also appealed to the National Assembly to ask its members to take their constituency projects to the line ministries instead of burdening the River Basin Development Authority with executing or implanting constituency projects.
He added that by so doing, the authority would go back and focus on its core mandate of focusing on agriculture and developing the river basins.
Enang, however, urged Nigerian youths, who studied agriculture, to stop seeking for ‘white collar jobs’ and get involved in developing the sector.
He commended the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for its Anchor Borrowers programmes introduced to support and promote agriculture in the country. (NAN)
