The governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, has charged Nigerian politicians to go into farming; stressing that investing in agriculture was the quickest way to grow the nation’s economy.
Speaking at the one day Economic and Investment Summit held in Agbor, Ika South Local Government Area of the state, Okowa said that job opportunities abound through the agriculture value chain.
“One of the ways to have an inclusive growth in our nation is agricultural production and its value chain.
“I am encouraging our politicians to go into farming as there are lots of benefits in farming. It is a great employer of labour. We have not been able to produce enough palm oil to meet the needs of Nigerians not to talk of export.
“As it concerns Micro, Small, and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSME), we have done a lot to encourage our people to be entrepreneurs but a lot more needs to be done. Many of our people are not knowledgeable enough and as such, they make a lot of mistakes.
“We are not only training our people to acquire skills as government but, we are training our youths, equipping them to function on their own, mentor them to succeed as entrepreneurs because, education backed with skills is the way to go for our country,” he said.
Earlier, Chairman of the Summit and Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in his remarks, emphasized the need to develop MSMEs so as to boost the nation’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil.
Emefiele said MSMEs were also means of harnessing previously redundant and untapped human and material resources, adding that it was a reliable pedestal for inclusive growth, job creation and poverty reduction.
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