The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan has commended President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressive Congress (APC) for committing more resources to diversify the economy than any previous administration in the country.
Lawan said no past government had invested as many resources particularly in agriculture as the Buhari government had done.
He spoke on Saturday at the commissioning of a Poultry Farm Center which the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) established in Gasamu, in Jakusko Local Government Area of Yobe State.
The Senate President said: “We have promised to diversify the economy of this country. For more than 50 years, our economy had been dependent on one single commodity and that is oil.
“Oil does not provide so many employment opportunities. There could be revenues but definitely not the mainstream opportunities in terms of employment. But when you diversify into agriculture, you would have much more people engaged, especially our youths who today are largely unemployed or underemployed.
“So we are diversifying the economy of Nigeria through agriculture and we have done so much as a country, as a government, in the last six years or so.
” I want to assure you that the APC administration at all levels of government, from the local government to the state and federal government, will continue to work for diversification of the Nigerian economy.
“Only last month, the National Bureau of Statistics released the report that our economy has grown by 5.01 percent in GDP. That is to show that we are making progress. We are not yet there but we will be there by the Grace of God and all indications are there that we will be there.”
Lawan thanked Buhari for giving the approval for the farm. This, he said, was in fulfilment of the promise made by the President on behalf of APC in 2015, to provide employment opportunities for the youths.
“Gasamu, because of this project, is now going to be prominent in the Nigerian map. And this is something that is very important for us as a community here.
Lawan also appealed to NALDA to increase the capacity of the farm to go beyond 250,000 per annum.
The Executive Secretary of NALDA, Hon. Paul Ikonne said the farm centre was established on the mandate of President Buhari in order to empower the youths and get the country closer towards achieving food security.
Ikonne also said the farm had the capacity of generating 850 eggs daily and N1.1 million daily from the sales of birds only and nothing less than N400 million annually.
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