By Ediri Ejoh

Former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, yesterday called on the Federal Government to prioritise the development of agriculture as an alternative to oil, and a booster to the country’s economy.

He made this call in a paper delivered yesterday, titled, “Sustainable Agriculture: A Credible Alternative for National Development”  at the 43rd convocation of the Federal College of Agriculture, Ishiagu, Ebonyi State.

He expressed regret that successive governments in Nigeria have paid less attention to agriculture, in preference to oil, saying that with the drop in the price of oil, the country was now grappling with economic problems, which should not have been if attention was paid to agriculture also.

Orji Uzor Kalu

He also called on institutions of higher learning to show the way by becoming more practical in their approach to teaching.

His words: “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.”