The Minister of State for Power, Dr Goddy Jedy-Agba yesterday noted that Nigeria could no longer depend solely on oil as the driver of its economy.
The minister, therefore, challenged young people across the federation not to see farming as an unattractive venture, noting that agriculture represented the future of Nigeria.
Jedy-Agba made this remark while addressing young people in his country home in Utugwang, Obudu Local Government Area, Cross River State during the Obudu New Yam Festival.
With the dwindling global prices of oil, according to the minister, electric car technology and many more, Nigeria cannot continue to rely solely on oil as the driver of its economy. This is why President Buhari’s government is investing massively in agriculture.
He urged the youths to support and pray for their leaders, saying agriculture “is the most viable solution to the issue of unemployment in Nigeria. We will not stop with encouraging people. We are ready and willing to help our teeming youths anyhow we can to succeed in agriculture.”
The minister reminded his audience, who wanted him to celebrate the new yam festival with them, that before the oil boom in the 70s, agriculture was the mainstay of the nation’s economy.
He intimated them that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, through its economic diversification drive “is investing hugely in agriculture through different schemes where farmers can access loans and grants.”
“I am happy to be with you here today. It is always a privilege and honour to enjoy this very unique celebration of the new yam festival with you, my people. We are blessed with very fertile land and very hardworking people.
“I’m happy with all of you who harvested the yams you used for today’s occasion from your farms. For those who did not, I enjoin you to invest in agriculture. Farming is not demeaning as some of you think.
“As a Minister, I am a farmer, it is in my CV. Please, my people, let us support the President’s Agric revolution. Agriculture is not old fashioned. It is the present and the future.
“We must be deliberate in our efforts to grow the economy through agriculture. Honestly, we need to return to farming. We made so much as a country from farming in the past; we need to return to it because it’s our identity,” the minister explained.
