Minister wants youths to drive agricultural revolution

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono, has tasked Nigerian youths to drive the agricultural revolution in Nigeria, stating that 70 per cent of Nigeria’s population is mostly youth and the hope of a greater Nigeria.

The minister made this known while receiving a delegation of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Youth Entrepreneurs (NYE), led by its national chairman, Alhaji Muhammad Adamu Muhammad, in his office  in Abuja.

Nanono noted that the challenge of feeding the growing population and creating a robust economy, food security and job creation would be a mirage without the youth being fully  involved  in the mechanization of the agricultural sector.

He observed that, “there are three fundamental issues in the agric sector on which the desired transformation can become a reality, namely, mechanisation, research for good seeds and effective extension workers’’.

The minister tasked the youths to drive the mechanization process. ‘’The youth should drive the new agricultural mechanization  process  in Nigeria because the future belongs to them,  therefore  you must be focused and ambitious to achieve this great objective’’.

He informed that the Federal Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has put in place a four-year agricultural mechanization programme for Nigerians  and that the ministry would determined to vigorously pursue it.

Earlier in his address, the president of NYE, Alhaji Muhammad Adamu Muhammad had informed that the NACCIMA Youth Council is a vibrant and empowered council that enhances youth empowerment for self-actualization nationwide. The council educates and trains youths with the knowledge and skills of business and entrepreneurship, to equip them for effective participation in sustainable national development’’

Muhammad further said that “the youth contributions in all spheres of life are enormous; we are the engine room of our present and future economy and shall continue to provide economic growth and development through our active participation and engagement in the socio-economic activities of our dear country’’