Abuja, – Mr Abdullahi Aremu, Director-General, Advocacy for Economic Integrity, an NGO, has urged the incoming government to improve on education, energy, agriculture and manufacturing to further develop the country.
Aremu gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja.
“To become a developed nation, Nigeria needs to speed up its economic growth by focusing on vital economic sectors such as education, energy, agriculture and manufacturing.
“At this point in Nigeria’s development, the best approach is to focus on the agriculture sector.
“Currently, Nigeria has 75 per cent of its land suitable for agriculture, but only 40 per cent is cultivated; that indicates that there is much room for the country to focus on,’’ Aremu said.
According to him, this will also address the food security challenge and agriculture with the focus on employment for all.
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“However, to move forward, the country must increase the low productivity of current agricultural companies, engage competition within the agricultural sector, develop domestic policies and increase funding.
“There is need to conduct agricultural surveys and establish smallholder fattening schemes for livestock as well as the rehabilitation of irrigation infrastructure and expansion of those structures,’’ he said.
Aremu said Nigeria needed to evaluate the historical efforts in terms of agriculture since its independence, to determine how to use agriculture to improve economy.
He added that such evaluation will ensure that the country did not repeat its past mistakes. (NAN)