The much awaited 2019, the year for Nigeria’s general election, has come. The election is on a few weeks away. Whosoever wins the presidential election must take the issue of food security in the country far more seriously than before. Whosoever wins the election must see agriculture as a “must do” enterprise for all Nigerians. We must all engage in some sort of agriculture.
The three tiers of government must ensure that peasant and commercial farmers go about their agricultural activity without the fear of Boko Haram in the North east or the rampaging Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt and other parts of the country.
Before the advent of oil, agriculture was the main stay of our economy. We must go back to the same agriculture with more vigour than before and become large producers of agricultural products for the local and the export markets. The logic is that if we produce for the export market, our production will be of high standard and must meet international standard. If we produce for export, there will still be enough to meet the needs of the local market.
In spite of the much acclaimed success of the government in local production of rice, I have not seen any bag of locally produced rice. In fact, the United States Department of Agriculture busted Nigeria’s claim on local rice production recently when it released figures showing that rather than reducing, Nigeria’s rice import will this year jump to 3.4 million metric tons, thus making Nigeria the second biggest rice importer in the world. Recall that some Nigerian overseas who were encouraged to return home by the Federal Government’s campaign to focus on agriculture as a major driver of the economy were forced to reappraise their decision to come home and invest in poultry, piggery, fishery, crops, vegetables and watermelon farms following frequent payment of ransom to kidnappers to rescue their workers abducted from their farms. Some states Houses of Assembly have responded to the wave of kidnapping by kidnappers. So far, no person has been prosecuted for the offence. But, if the trend persists, commercial agriculture will suffer
abandonment.
In short, the Federal Government must check insecurity in all parts of the country and ensure that Nigerians and foreigners in the country go about their economic activities without being molested by anybody.
At the same time, the Federal Government must ensure that owners of cattle embrace modern cattle ranching. It is sad that Nigeria is still one of those few countries around the world where herdsmen still move their cattle over thousands of kilometres on foot in search of food and water and to the market.
The Federal Government must stop mouthing the cliché of ‘diversification’ of the economy to agriculture and act fast to ensure real transformation in the economic landscape of the country. A situation where about 21 million Nigerians who were formerlyworking are now out of job is bad enough and calls for urgent action to reverse the situation.
Recall that for most of 2018, it was the non-oil industry and services, which constitute over half of the country’s economy, driven mostly by growth in construction, transport and ICT that picked up and gave the country its modest rise in GDP.
Therefore, the Federal Government must not place its hope too much on a rosy oil sector which can crash any time. Instead, it must always put its hope on a rosy agricultural, mining, manufacturing, entertainment and ICT sectors which can significantly lift the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
Far more important is that the government must not see itself as being in the business of running business. Instead, the government is in the business of making sure that there is safety of lives and property and ensuring that there is conducive environment for the private sector to thrive. If the private sector thrives, the country’s economy will thrive, there will be more jobs for millions of people looking for employment and more tax revenue will accrue to government coffers to enable it achieve its budget
dreams.
In the last few years, the behaviour of those in governance at the federal level seemed to have reverted to the behaviour of government in the first coming of Buhari as Head of State. One can see those in government behaving as if only those in government can turn around the fortunes of Nigeria. Government officials now see operators in the private sector as selfish and not patriotic
enough.
The truth of the matter is that operators in the private sector are far more Industrious and committed to Nigeria than those in the public sector who sit in their cosy offices and set the rules and policies for the private sector to follow and except the public sector stop having jaundiced view of the private sector, development of the country will continue to suffer.
