By AMAKA ABAYOMI

In its bid to boost agriculture, FirstBank of Nigeria Plc, weekend in Osogbo, Osun State, granted N1 billion agri-culture credit facility to the Osun State government for disbursement to the state’s cooperative farmers and eligible individual farmers under the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

According to First-Bank’s Group Managing Director, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, the objective of the scheme is to promote food security in the country given the shocking revelation that over 850 million people globally remain trapped in the spiral of hardship that hunger imposes.

Represented by the Group Head, Public Sector for Ogun, Oyo and Osun States, Mr. Timothy Arowoogun, Onasanya said the agricultural sector is a significant deter-minant of food security in any society and therefore should not be ignored.

“In Nigeria, agriculture is the preoccupation of virtually three quarters of the nation’s pre-dominantly rural populace and employs about two thirds of the country’s labour force.

“It is estimated to contribute about 40 per cent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product. This scheme, which is meant to provide funding to farmers, thereby sustaining contribution of agriculture to the economic development of this country is, therefore, in the right direction.”

While lauding First-Bank for its commitment to ensuring that farmers in the state benefit from the scheme, the state governor, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola, praised his government for being one of the few states in the country that have met the stringent conditions set by the CBN.

He called on govern-ments at all levels to make aggressive food produc-tion their focal point.

“According to a recent report, it is said that 40 years from now, Nigeria’s oil well would have dried up. The implication is that for Nigeria to survive as a nation, we must fall back on aggressive food production.

“We must work, work and work. Truly, man needs the grace of God to live, but man also must struggle to eat bread.”

Aregbesola pointed out that by the time the programme fully comes on stream, other sectors of the state’s economy will also benefit.

He listed some of these benefits to include food security, employment generation, improvement in the purchasing power of beneficiaries, a boost in the state’s tax receipt and the general well being of the people.

Aside the N1bn agric credit facility, FirstBank had earlier granted Infrastructure Finance Facility of N25bn to the Osun State Government.

The Bank also donated N50m to support the state youth employment initiative called Osun Youth Employment Scheme (OYES).