Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has identified lack of political will and commitment as the factors that have been militating against the development of agriculture in Nigeria.
Professor Osinbajo, who looked back at the glorious past said: “the truth of the matter is that the difference between then and now is the political will. There is no question at all that there is far more information today than there was then but someone has to have the will to do it.”
Addressing, today, March 15, members of a delegation from the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, who was on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, insisted that what is required to boost resource mobilisation are hardwork and dedication of all stakeholders in the sector.
Professor Osinbajo stresses that agriculture can be the solution to a lot of the nation’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and a lot of the resource needs.
“There is no question at all, that any part of Nigeria, if there is sufficient dedication and hard work, can feed the entire country. There are smaller countries not up to the size of one State in Nigeria that are producing enough and exporting produce to other parts of the world.”
Osinbajo, who also acknowledged the importance of private sector collaboration in transforming agriculture, however, stressed the need for stakeholders to focus on research and development.
He said that the progress made by some countries of the world, especially in the area of commercial farming have been hinged on research.
Earlier, the Director-General of DAWN, Mr. Seye Oyeleye, said that the commission had developed blueprints for the development of the health and education sectors in the six States of the South-West.
He cited the revitalization of cocoa production and the framework for sustainable agricultural transformation in the region, among achievements recorded by the commission in the nine years of its establishment
