Let’s tackle recession with agriculture

There is recession in Nigeria. This has become the most popular sentence in Nigeria today. We say that economic recession is a setback or backsliding of the nation’s economy.

Everybody keeps suggesting solutions to the recession. Some place the blame on our leaders, saying we are not governed by the right people. Some say poor management of our resources, both natural and artificial, is the problem. Even the president himself also canvassed his own version of the most likely solution when he suggested external borrowing.

Our problem is like treating an ailment while you don’t know the underlying cause. Nigeria is a land blessed by God with many resources. But unfortunately, we have diverted our interest from other resources and focused exclusively on the liquid black gold, crude oil. Everybody wants to become an oil merchant. We are ready to spend billions of naira on oil but we feel reluctant to spend a penny on agriculture.

Let us recall the times past when oil discovery had not reached an extensive level in the county. Our leaders then depended on agriculture and never complained of recession. The economy then was almost perfect, if not completely perfect. Let us look at the issue from another angle: both the young and old, the educated and less educated Nigerians can practice agriculture without much stress. But to deal with oil, you need to be highly educated. If we practise agriculture, we can at least boast of food to eat even if there will be little or none to export.

Give a man a plot of land to farm on and you have fed him for life. But give a man a barrel of oil; you have only fed him for a while. The former one teaches a man how to fish while the latter gives him some fish to eat.  Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has strenuously advised Nigeria to go back to agriculture because he knows its value to our economy.

With the current population of Nigeria, I don’t think that revenue from the oil sector alone is capable of saving the country from recession. It will do us more good than harm if we can go back and depend on agriculture and place little interest on oil. We will have a better and improved economy.

Youth empowerment in agriculture has a role to play in our nation’s development. Let us not forget that agriculture is our inheritance and we must keep it.

Olowoselu Samuel

Okitipupa, Ondo State.