Hamzat urges FG to increase budget to agriculture
Deputy Governor of Lagos state, Dr. Kadri Hamzat has urged the federal government to invest more in agriculture by increasing the budgetary allocation to the sector.
Dr. Hamzat said this on Wednesday while delivering the annual lecture of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Lagos state University, Ojo, titled: “Addressing the unemployment scourge in Nigeria: The role of agriculture and technology” held at the main auditorium of the university.
“Based on several available data, it is agreed that a large percentage of the working poor are engaged in agriculture.Therefore, investments in the agriculture sector will have a major impact on welfare throughout much of the world,” the deputy governor said.
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According to him, unemployment is a global challenge that has far reaching effects in Africa and other developing nations, asserting that “unemployment is responsible for high level of poverty, inequality, insecurity, corruption and deplorable living standards of many homes.”
He said one of the major problems in Africa is unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. With 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 as Africa has the largest population of young people in the world.
“We must admit that this high umemployment rate is unacceptable in Africa, especially in Nigeria, a country filled with an impressive group of youth, talent and creativity,” he opined.
The deputy governor noted that over the last 10 years, unemployment in Nigeria rose from five per cent in 2010 to 22.5 per cent in 2018.
“Many people have argued that Nigeria should have no problem with unemployment being the country with the largest economy with a nominal GDP of $508.62 billion and per capita income of $1.40 in Africa, even as the World Bank requests its members to allocate 15 per cent of their national budgets to agriculture,” he stated.
According to him, while Nigerians must deploy several strategies, it is widely accepted that agriculture and technology are amongst the most successful methods of curtailing unemployment.
He said however, that agriculture cannot stand alone in ending unemployment as technology must be seen as an ally for ensuring that interventions are sustainable and far reaching.
He said with 1.3 billion people employed in the sector, agriculture is the second greatest source of employment worldwide after services and it accounts for 28 per cent of global employment.
“Prior to the oil boom of the 1970’s, agriculture was known to be the foundation of the Nigerian economy, contributing over 70 per cent of the GDP, 62 per cent of the total export earnings and employing the majority of Nigeria’s labour force,” the deputy governor stressed.
