THE Federal Government wants friends of Nigeria like the United States (U.S.) to invest massively in the country’s agricultural sector because, among other reasons, the good old sector is now part of its national security.

Making the disclosure at the weekend at the close of an investment forum on agriculture in Washington DC, U.S., Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, said “Today, in the face of food insecurity, growing population, famine in some parts of the world and rising unemployment among our youths, it is only proper as a responsible government to shift focus back to agriculture. That underpins the socio-economic transformation of Nigeria on a sustainable basis.”

In his words, “one of the main drivers of the transformation process is the agriculture sector which has been growing at 7.8 per cent but requires more action for the nation to achieve food security, develop value chain for exports and create employment.

In pursuit of this goal, an Agricultural Transformation Action Plan (ATAP) is being implemented through which 3.5 million jobs are to be created by 2012. Concerted efforts are also being made to focus on rice, cassava, sorghum, cocoa and cotton production.”

Ashiru maintained that the U.S. Export-Import Bank coincided the forum with its Annual General Meeting (AGM) so that Nigeria’s power and agricultural programmes can be discussed.

He noted that President Goodluck Jonathan’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) drive is to attract investors from both private and public companies.

Meanwhile, Nigeria, through the recently-launched agricultural transformation agenda of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is set to return agriculture as the mainstay of the economy.

This assurance was given by Nigeria’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, at the just-concluded agric business summit organised by the Embassy of Nigeria and the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) with support from the World Bank in Washington DC.

Adesina, in his keynote address, articulated investment opportunities in Nigeria’s agricultural sector. He noted that agriculture accounts for 75 per cent of the growth of the non-oil sector of the Nigerian economy, and assured that the present administration is “creating enabling environment, developing infrastructure, safeguarding investments, reducing official bottlenecks and motivating local and international investors.”

The minister proclaimed the feasibility of reclaiming the former glory of Nigeria as a net exporter of food from its current net importer position, while dwelling passionately on the 20-30 per cent IRR potential for investments on modelled investment opportunities in tomato, cassava, cotton, rice, maize and soya beans value chain with the latter at about 105 per cent IRR. One of the panel’s discussions focused on the huge potential for tomato paste processing and fresh produce grading and packaging export centres.

The minister’s presentation, which drew applause, triggered more than a dozen prospective investors to meet with him after his presentation.


http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=83431:-agriculture-now-part-of-nigerias-national-security-strategy&catid=1:national&Itemid=559

I didn't know Nigeria has a paper national security strategy.

Clueless leaders!