President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said the time has come for Nigerians to stop paying lip service to agriculture, saying crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.
The President made the remark during an audience with Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian- born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice.
“We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many who want to go into agricultural ventures.”
The President promised that his administration will also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through before getting assistance from government.
He told the IFAD president that improvement of farmers’ productivity, dry season farming and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the Lake Chad will also receive the attention of his administration.
He said: “There is so much to be done. We will try and articulate a programme and consult organizations like IFAD for advise.”
He said that foreign exchange will be conserved for machinery and other items needed for production, “instead of using it to import things like toothpicks.”
Dr. Nwanze congratulated President Buhari on his victory at the general election and assured him that IFAD is ready to give all possible assistance to the Federal Government and Nigerian farmers to boost agricultural production in the country.
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