Agric: the future of Nigeria’s economy

Agric: the future of Nigeria’s economy
   The Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, has enjoined Nigerians to go back to Agriculture and reinvent the glorious days when Nigeria could fend for itself in all ramifications before the advent of oil in the 1960’s after which people turned their back on Agriculture.
Babalola, who spoke at the commencement of the Agricultural Week of the University over the weekend, recalled that before the advent of oil, Western Nigeria was well known for production of Cocoa, the Mid-West for the production of Rubber, the East for Timber and Palm Oil while the North was known for Groundnut and cotton.
He pointed out that before the advent oil in the 60’s, Agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy like in the United States of America, Canada, Argentina and Australia, wondering why  Nigeria should suddenly turn its back on this otherwise lucrative enterprise.
His words:”Everywhere in the world throughout the ages, the place and import of agriculture have always been on the front burner of national priority. And this is not for nothing as agriculture does not only provide food, employment and security, it reduces the prevalence of poverty, promotes self-sufficiency and reduction in crime rate”
He added: “After all, a man who has nothing to eat or feed his family with may not find it difficult to lapse into petty larceny to make ends meet. After all: a hungry man is an angry man.
“Apart from according man the opportunity to eat fresh food, agriculture allows man to stay close to nature. The excitement that accompanies planting maize, for instance, and seeing it germinate, tassel and eventually matures for you to harvest is better imagined. It is always a beautiful, fulfilling and an almost indescribable experience”.
According to him, there was abundance of food items in the pre-colonial era in Nigeria as a result of which no one lacked food and with many people gainfully employed. He however lamented that with the advent of oil, which some people disparagingly and cynically dubbed oil doom, scarcity of food, poverty and unemployment as well as inclination towards crime crept into the fabrics of the Nigerian nation to the disadvantage and consternation of all.
Going biblical, the frontline Agriculturist and farmer said for him, Agriculture/farming is fundamental because as far back as the Book of Genesis, God gave Adam and Eve a garden to tend, stressing that “that is what we are doing in our university today with the establishment of ABUAD Enterprise Farm”.
Today, the ABUAD Enterprise Farm can boast of 110,000 Mango Trees, 500,000 Teak Trees, 310,000 Gmelina Trees, a Moringa Factory worth over N1 billion, 680 fish ponds with at least 5,000 fishes in each of them, as well as a Feed Mill worth over N500,000.00, several hectares of cassava, maize, soya and groundnut, an animal section made up of a Piggery, Snailery, Turkey, Guinea Fowl, Quail and Mushroom as well as an incubator.
In in its resolve to provide all-round education for its students and make them job creators after graduation instead of having to be pounding the streets, looking for white collar jobs, Babalola said they are made to choose two of the above and work strenuously on them in addition to their academic pursuit here.
He blamed the inclination to turn away from Agriculture on the country’s education system and fact that the people have generally abandoned agriculture which used to be the mainstay of the economy before the advent of oil in the 70s.
His words: “Specifically, our educational system, right from elementary school up to the university level, has neglected agriculture, relying only on oil, thereby giving birth to high rate of unemployment”.
But as a result of his modest efforts to revolutionize agriculture and particularly because of his achievements, the University has attracted publicity from all over the world. For example, IITA has designated it as a Research Centre in Agriculture while UNESCO is collaborating with it in order to resolve the challenges in education in Africa in the areas of quality, relevance and equity in education.
He used the opportunity to reiterate his earlier position to give sufficient assistance to them to be able to stand on their own upon graduation for them to be shining light and a beacon of hope for others.
Babalola, who affirmed that he studied Agriculture through his parents but went ahead to modernize it, promised to revive what the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, SAN, his fellow alumnus of the famous University of London, started but was pushed to the back burner since the advent of oil in the 1960’s.
The frontline legal icon is looking forward to situation whereby Nigerian leaders will reinvent the Awolowo example who in 1955 when deployed as much as 52% of the Western Region’s resources on education to make total men and women out of the indigenes of the Region then with the attendant monumental development of the region ahead of others, even till today.

Source: http://abuad.edu.ng/agric-the-future-of-nigerias-economy/