The Director-General of Voice of Nigeria, Mr. Osita Okechukwu says Nigeria has achieved a lot in its 61 years of independence, despite the various obstacles it has encountered on its path to nationhood.
Okechukwu spoke to reporters on Friday after the ceremony marking Nigeria’s 61st Independence Anniversary at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
According to him, Nigeria has gone very far from where it was in 1960 when it gained independence to the position it has reached.
“Today, we have over 200 hundred universities, federal, state and private owned; we have more hospitals.
“We have more motorable roads; we have more industries, we have more trained human resources that today we could claim.
“Substantially we have not gotten to where we are going, but we are still the giant of Africa in spite of the obstacles.
“If you are going to any path and there is no obstacle, then you are going nowhere. So, we should not because of the obstacles on the way think that Nigeria has not achieved a lot.
“We have achieved a lot; we have remained united, but I know that by the time we contain insecurity the issue of all the agitations will come to an end.”
Agrarian revolution
Mr. Okechukwu said that President Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on an aggressive agrarian revolution that which will create new middle class at the village level.
He said that part of what the president has done in this regard is the importation of agricultural equipment to enhance productivity in the sector.
“You can imagine of a president who had a programme of importation of various agricultural equipment that will be adaptable to every square kilometer of the country because Nigeria is blessed in such a manner that there is no square kilometer of the country that is not fertile for one crop or the other or one livestock or the other.
“So, by the time we are at home with equipment of €885million, it then means that even the farmers-herders clashes will be contained because among the equipment that will be imported are ranches of various types, both cattle ranches, both piggery, both sheep, both goats and poultry livestock.
“So, when you have the livestock segment by agricultural technological equipment and you have the crop side upgraded as well, the man who used to farm with his hoes and machete when you give him tractors he will improve and improve from less than one hectare or plot to more hectares because he is mechanized.
“I think when the president exits, that whoever comes after him will continue with the agrarian revolution because if the goes we will depend on our land.”
Borrowing for infrastructure
Insisting that the borrowing by the Buhari administration to expand infrastructure is not a waste, Okechukwu declared that it is the only way to ensure economic recovery.
“So, when you see the president borrowing to expand our infrastructure, it is not a waste. Rather, it is the only road for recovering our economy; the only road to employing thousands to millions of our youths because Nigeria is blessed,” he stated.
According to Mr. Okechukwu, Nigeria as one of the 10 most populous countries in the world, needs to leverage its median youth age, which is above 60%, to grow their ICT capacity..
“All we need to do is to harvest it by encouraging our in ICT infrastructure. There should be no limit to what our youths do, except that they should not go into the nefarious aspects of the social media.
“But they should go into startups. That is what America is dependent on; that is what the Chinese are dependent on.
“So, we should allow our youths to grow on ICT capacity because if you go digital, there is enormous things that could be done by our youths.
“I know that our youths are also deeply involved in digital growth. If you are digitally growing and you are growing in agriculture by depending on land, there is no way you will not prosper.
“At any rate the oil is not disappearing and even if it disappears, we are one of the most gas endowed nations on earth. So, Nigeria has every prospect to reach our goal of being giant of Africa.”
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