Prioritize Agriculture, Stop The Blame Game, Kalu Tells FG

[caption id="attachment_14290" align="alignnone" width="650"]Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia Governor[/caption]

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia State Governor on Thursday called on the Federal Government to invest more towards the growth of agriculture for national development.

Kalu said this at the 43rd convocation of the Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, Ebonyi State. Tagged “Sustainable Agriculture: A Credible Alternative for National Development”

According to him the past governments in Nigeria have paid less attention to agriculture, in preference to oil, saying that the global fall in oil price was the major cause of the current economic downturn.

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He also called on institutions of higher learning to lead by example with their manner of approach towards teaching.

He said “There is the need for our institutions to be less theoretical and become more practical especially now that the world is changing. The time has come for us to move this great country forward, and to do this, there has to be an end to the blame game.

“Today, I make bold to say that all over the country, what we enjoy in terms of infrastructure are basically projects that were initiated and executed by the founding fathers of this great country. Just imagine if the resources we have earned from oil over the years had been committed into developing this country the same way the one earned from agriculture was deployed by past leaders, today, Nigeria would have been in the mode of Dubai and Saudi Arabia, if not better.

“However, all hope is not lost as agriculture, which gave us the pride of place in the past, is still available to be explored and exploited, and now is the time to do that, especially with the Federal Government’s preparedness to support it at any level not just to ensure food sufficiency but also for national development.”

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