Diversification of economy, surest way out of recession, says Naiyeju

Former Accountant General of the Federation, Dr. James Kayode Naiyeju, has posited that the diversification of the nation’s economy from its current monolitic form is surest way for the country to exit from the recession it is currently facing.

Dr. Naiyeju stated this yesterday at a training workshop organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Abuja the nation’s capital for farmers associations, women/youths and students.

The former accountant General pointed out that agriculture offers a ready alternative for the diversification of the nation’s economy, stressing that if well handled, it (agriculture) will not only provide the nation with enough food to feed its citizens, but will help to generate a lot of foreign exchange into her coffers.

According to him, ” before the recession, we talked about the diversification of the economy but the people were paying lip service to it. The recession we got into would serve as a stimulation for us to think outside the box.

” Even the young ones, school leavers, even the adults, were carried away by the boom of the federation’s oil.

They only sold the thing that was flowing and we were earning it and people don’t appreciate the dignity of labour.

“Today’s agricultural workshop is an idea to let people know that the agricultural business is enough of business and if you want to make it a business, it means it is something you can do, profit from and enjoy life abundance out of that profit and therefore it means you have to think very well of how to produce, using all the resources.

“Nigeria is so blessed. The land is fertile. Where there is aridity, you add small water into it.

If we pay serious attention to agric, we will not only be able to feed ourselves, but we will be able to export to earn foreign exchange and there will be less of friction and less of crimes.

“However, in agriculture, you must be patience. You can’t be in a hurry. There is always the gestation period. The awareness has just started with the change. The awareness has started. I can bet you, in about a year or two more, with what I have seen, we will see great abundance in terms of agriculture. Am very optimistic about that”, he said emphatically.

In his paper, an Agro Economist and National Consultant to the Food and Agricultural organization, Dr Oluwole Okelola pointed out that a well-managed agribusiness is capable of sustaining farmers, entrepreneurs and family livelihood, increase their income, provide safety nets for employment, wellbeing and wealth creation among women and youths including fresh graduates.

Dr Okelola , who noted that life, nowadays, requires more cash than in the past, added that there is more and more pressure to make extra income even with a full time job.

He described farming now as more of a business that a mere way of life.

The Agro Economist submitted that all farmers (large scale and small scale) therefore need management tools to be able to plan, implement and evaluate their farm business.