An Economic expert, Prof. Ken Ife, has urged the Federal Government to improve its commitment to the agricultural and manufacturing sectors of the economy to spur diversification.
Ife said this on Saturday in Abuja, at the 33rd Finance Correspondents and Business Editors Seminar organised by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
He made the call in his paper “Unlocking opportunities in the non-oil sector ”.
He said in spite of huge intervention in the agricultural sector in recent times, output appeared to be inadequate.
“Public leadership of agricultural development programmes has resulted in the construction of 300 dams, huge strategic grain reserves, and other investments.
“The high number of dams, together with the rains and rivers give Nigeria four times surface water than South Africa,.
“But only a handful of the dams are used for power generation, irrigation for dry-season farming and aqua culture,” he said.
He commended the CBN for its various intervention in agriculture and other non-oil sectors.
“As at February, N948 billion in loans has been given to 4.4 million farmers cultivating 5.2 million hectares, creating 12.5 million direct jobs.
“Government could not have been able to deliver this order of “targeting” and private-private arrangement and depositors’ monies that need to be repaid, ” he said.
Earlier, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, said the quest for building a more sophisticated economy was the major component of monetary policy.
In an address delivered on his behalf by CBN’s Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Osita Nwanisobi, Emefiele said such an economy would be anchored on agriculture, MSMEs, industrial and manufacturing concerns.
According to him, Nigeria has largely depended on the oil sector for revenue generation over the past four decades.
He said that the sustained decline in crude oil production had continued to negatively undermine the performance of the economy.
“Thus, there is the urgent need for a conscientious effort to diversify to other non-oil sectors.
” As I have often said, it is important that we work to create an economy that will enable us feed ourselves, create jobs for our teeming youths and improve the standard of living of our people.
“Our population is growing by over three per cent per annum over the past seven years, against a less than steady growth in output since 2019,” he said.
The CBN governor said that the production and industrial capacity of the economy must be given special attention to ensure overall macroeconomic stability.
He said that economic challenges brought about by the advent of Covid-19 pandemic and Russian-Ukrainian conflict had also made the idea of economic diversification imperative.
“There is no gainsaying that since 2019, the world has been facing severe shocks, propelled by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war that have continued to threaten global growth and overall macroeconomic stability.
” As the world was gradually exiting the devastating negative shocks and impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the economic sanctions against Russia have further worsened the subsisting supply-chain disruptions across the globe.
“The accompanying trade dislocations have aggravated supply shocks across regions, triggered unprecedented increases in commodities, energy and food prices as inflationary pressures persist to all-time high across regions,” he said.
He added that diversification of the Nigerian economy would ensure that unanticipated negative shocks did not undermine food security and self-sufficiency.
“Therefore, the quest for building a more sophisticated economy anchored on agriculture, MSMEs, industrial and manufacturing concerns have become the major component of our monetary policy,” he said.
