Varsity don offers solution to Oyo financial crisis

A university lecturer, Professor Adeolu Akande, has identified agriculture as the surest way for Oyo State to expand its economic base and survive the effects of current national economic crisis.

Akande, a Visiting Professor of Political Science at the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, said reliance on federal allocation, over the years, was the bane of the current economic crisis afflicting the state.

The Oyo 2019 governorship hopeful on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) made this known in a statement made available to the Tribune Online on Sunday.

He also said the economic crisis was responsible for the inability of the government to pay workers salaries and also carry out its other obligations.

Akande explained that Oyo, with an arable landmass of 28,545 square kilometres, has no reason to be listed among states unable to pay salaries, if the state had developed its agricultural potentials instead of relying on the Federal Government for its finance.

“The comparative advantage of Oyo State is in agriculture. With 28,545 square kilometres of arable land, an army of youths who are unemployed and nearness to the Lagos market which consumes an estimated N8billion worth of food every day, Oyo State can leverage on agriculture to expand its economic base and stop the reliance on funds from the federal government for its sustenance,” he said.

He said the comparative advantage of the state in agriculture lies in poultry, cassava, maize and cotton cultivation, among others.

He said Oyo, being the largest producer of cassava in Nigeria, could double or triple its production of the product to expand the contribution of cassava to the economy of the state.

“Nigeria produces 54 million tonnes of cassava every year and exports less than one per cent of it. It also imports cassava products worth billions of dollars every year.

“What this meant is that there is a huge local and international market for cassava products which Oyo State can tap into if it expands what it is presently producing by leveraging on its expansive land mass and huge population of youths.

“For example, ethanol is one of the 14 derivatives from cassava and Nigeria imports 98 per cent of her ethanol need, whose value is put at N800 billion.

“How much of this money taken out of Nigeria annually can we attract to Oyo State by expanding on our production of cassava?, he asked, explaining that the same situation applies to products like cassava flour and  cassava sweeteners.

He said, the government can encourage industrialisation, boost food security and create jobs for the teaming youths by making concerted efforts on the comparative advantage the state enjoys in agricultural production, through a mix of public private partnership (PPP).

He added that the government would also not only expand the economic base of the state, but also enhance it’s revenue through the provision of conducive environment for large scale commercial farming.