Nigeria will need massive investment in agriculture to defeat backlash of COVID-19 pandemic-James

Bassey James, a political analyst, security expert and cleric, is President of the Southern Youths Development Forum (SYDF). James is concerned about what becomes of Nigeria post COVID-19 and believes much needed to be done to put Nigeria back on a sound footing after the crisis arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The founder, Southern Atlantic Polytechnic, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, believes that if the nation is to quickly find its footing after the pandemic there must be a conscious effort to revamp agriculture and massively invest in the sector from the federal to the local governments.

***********With the advent of the coronavirus global pandemic and the lockdown that has been in place, what is your assessment of the way government is handling the situation, do you think they are doing the right thing with regards to keeping the people alive and still ensuring the economic viability of the nation afterwards?

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Sincerely I want to commend the Federal Government for the way it has handled the situation so far, to tell you the truth things could have been worse, what we have on our hands is very dangerous. So, I want to thank the Federal Government and the state governors for acting on time, because you saw how the thing was coming from one state to the other, one person to the other and it kept growing to other parts of Nigeria, but they have tried in curtailing its spread.

***********There are security concerns as a result of rising crime in parts of Lagos and Ogun states where the Federal Government lockdown is operational, as a security expert what do you think the government did wrong to have warranted this security concern?

It is a very sad situation for one to be in and you know that there is no amount of palliative that the government will bring that will be enough for Lagos and Ogun states, Lagos is a country inside a country. We have up to 20 million people in Lagos and by the time you add Ogun you know we are talking about 25 to 30 million people and I wonder what they can really do to meet the needs of all these people. So, for me the government is doing its very best, though some people may say its best is not good enough, because they may not have really met the individual needs of the people, don’t forget many people are on the road every morning, afternoon and night, struggling to make ends meet for their families,  and there is no amount of palliative that can meet these needs, because we have over 20 million people struggling to get food, I commend the police and the military for what they are doing, but there is really nothing much that can be done to help the situation, because the number of people out there looking for food are much, that is the major problem.

*************When this issue of coronavirua started many people felt it was an elitist problem, especially since it started from abroad and is brought into the country by those who travel abroad, but now it seem to have broken the status barrier and it is becoming clearer that everyone is at risk, but do you think the people are careful enough as it is?

Yes, initially it was seen like that, that it came from China, Italy, America and the rest of it, but really, human beings are human being whether a rich man or a poor man, this virus does not distinguish all that. Look at the man who came in either from the USA or so to Ekiti, he is a rich man, but the driver, who is not a big man, also caught it. From what has happened there is a need for us to understand the sickness, it does not look at a rich man or a poor man, it affects everybody, so there is the need for everyone to be conscious, because there is no one that is safe.

**********After the issue of coronavirus and when the lockdown will be over, there will still be Nigeria, the people will still need to survive, going forward what do you think the government should do in trying to bring people back to work and bring the country back on the right track?

I want to commend the President for the revolution in agriculture, imagine that food is not coming from all parts of the country today. 99 percent of the food that we eat in the country today is produced in Nigeria.

But I want to appeal to Mr President to please return agriculture program to the local government areas and direct the funding of agriculture by the Bank of Agriculture. I also want to appeal to the President to speak with the governors to issues certificate of occupancy to Nigerians, for easy access to loans for the purpose of Development in the country. Nigerians are not lazy people, if they have certificate of occupancy for their lands it will be easier for them to have access to loans as they can use the certificate as collateral in the banks.

Also on the issue of the palliatives being given to the people, especially the financial support, it should be given through the banks and not cash at hand, because it is open to abuse. I commend Mr President for the initiative, but it can be better done.

Another appeal I also want to make to the President is that at this time, all contracts should be given to indigenous contractors, either from Federal, States and local government areas and also for the President to order the Central Bank of Nigeria to direct other financial institutions to fund small business owners and entrepreneurship development centers, this is because there is no nation that can develop without these small businesses, after all how many people can the government actually employ. These small businesses are those that take the burden of unemployment off the shoulders of the government and they should be supported to do better.

I believe that there is also the need for a periodic meeting on small scale business funding support program with the Mr President, governor’s, banks al all level and even at the local government areas, this will be assess what these small business owners are doing and advise them where necessary, I believe that is these measures are put in place it facilitate the creation employment for Nigerians in less six months and the country will be able to quickly bounce back and defeat whatever negative effect this coronavirus would have on the people.