…says Africa’s agribusiness to rise to $30trn by 2030
The convener of Nigeria Economic Outlook Conference, NEOC, Ogho Okiti, has expressed optimism that the nation will get out of reception this year. He however noted that getting out of recession was not the problem but enacting policies that will ensure the nation doesn’t go down the drain again in the coming years.
In his words: “If more money is deployed into the economy, we will get out of recession this year. However the question to ask after getting out of recession is what next?
The economic mess we now find ourselves as a nation did not start with the current administration. However, they (the current administration) don’t have the debt appreciation to understand the best approach to adopt to tackle the problem head long”.
Also speaking on the sidelines of the sabotage and militancy agitation in the Niger Delta, the CEO, Time Economics said: “We need peace in the Niger delta to move forward. The discovery of oil is a problem in itself. Our government needs to cultivate the habit of using allocated capital in the annual budgets to achieve economic recovery.
We also need rigorous fiscal restricting. Presently there is no link between government revenue and economic activities. The states should take on the onerous responsibility of supporting businesses in order to widen revenue generation.
Also speaking at the conference, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, NIRSAL, Aliyu Abdulhameed said Africa’s agricultural turn over will hit a whopping sum of $30 trillion by 2030.
Abdulhameed urged investors to see beyond oil and look inwards to the rapid development in the nation’s agricultural sector as led by his agency.
Abdulhameed, who advocated for the mechanization of farming in the country said: “Advanced countries plant improved seed. We need to replace the human factor in agriculture with machines. There’s an extent to what humans can achieve compared to machines. Machines can work extensively and provide high yield of products as harvest”.
He also called on respective government authorities, ministries, departments and agencies in all tiers of government to eliminate all forms of bureaucracies that tend to discourage investors in the country.
The Nigeria Economic Outlook Conference is organized annually to bring together representatives of governments, economists and the business community to x-ray paths to economic recovery and growth.