Former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has faulted government’s direct involvement in agribusiness, saying such involvements won’t work because they are drain pipes for public funds.
Obasanjo stated this while delivering a lecture at the University of Ibadan on Saturday.
Speaking on the topic: “Agribusiness: Time to act,” the former president said the role of government is to create enabling environment for agribusiness to thrive.
He added that time has come for the government and practitioners to glamourize farming, adding that government needs to develop incentives for farmers across the country to retain people in agribusiness.
He was the guest lecturer at the maiden edition of the Eminent Persons Business Lecture of the University of Ibadan School of Business (UISB) in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan.
The former president said the drop in the global price of crude oil and the reality of the present economic situation in Nigeria could be a blessing in disguise. According to him, the situation could lead Nigeria to the reality that agriculture had the capacity to successfully drive the nation’s economy.
At the lecture were the Pro Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Umar Mustapha; Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Abel Olayinka; Emeritus Professor Oladipo Akinkugbe and the representative of Oyo State Government, Prince Oyewole Oyewumi, who is the state’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Natural Resources and Rural Development.
His words: “In the past, the bane of agriculture in Nigeria was lack of continuity and consistency in government policy. Maybe the present situation in which we find ourselves in our economy and the low price of crude oil may be a blessing in disguise to wake us to the reality of agriculture as the mainstay of our economy, and as a renewable system of production compared with oil and gas which are being depleted.
“Let me emphasise that while agriculture cannot be practiced without government support in term of good policy and incentive, government as a direct producer has never worked and it will never work in agriculture.
“Where in recent times, government leaders have made government to go into agricultural production, it has been with ulterior motive for stealing. I have seen a poultry house of a state government with two week old birds on the floor and the floor is as clean as if you have not put anything there. There was no water dropping or any waste. It was designed by the governor of the state for the purpose of stealing and he stole. That must not continue to happen.”
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