Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
A Non Governmental Organization (NGO) based in the United States of America, Winrock International has decried the total dependence of Nigerian economy on oil and gas sector, saying the development was responsible for the country’s poor economy.
The Director of the organization, Prof. Jeffrey Wood who spoke at the closing ceremony of a three day training programme organized by the NGO for selected tertiary institutions in Nigeria said over dependence on oil is gradually killing the nation’s economy.
For the country’s economy to grow, Wood advised the federal government to pay attention to the agricultural sector, which he said has the potentials to grow the nation’s economy.
Wood, an agricultural expert based in the US informed that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will fund any agricultural project embarked upon by the Nigerian government.
He also encouraged private individuals to go into farming, just as he called on the three tiers of government to diversify the economy and develop agriculture.
He noted that crude oil which is the main source of the nation’s revenue may no longer be reliable, hence the need to develop agriculture, stressing that many advanced nations of the world have developed agriculture to a level that it has become the base of their economy.
Also, Wood noted that the country is blessed with fertile land that can grow both arable and cash crops, and therefore called on Nigerians to make the best use of the land and good vegetation in the country.
Participants at the training programme who were drawn from Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo and Osun States expressed the need for the government to develop the agriculture sector through training and retraining of agricultural science teachers at all levels of education.