News by Bello Wakili
President Muhammadu says more priority would be given to the development of irrigation facilities in the country to encourage more people into agriculture.
He stated this at the 6th regular meeting with the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC), led by Professor Doyin Salami at the presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Buhari who noted agriculture was a good way for the country to overcome its economic challenges, stressed the need to fully harness the sector.
He said Nigeria was fortunate to be endowed with other resources including gas and vast arable land, which are not been fully harnessd.
The President was responding to disclosure by Prof Salami that only 2% of land under cultivation is irrigated and recommended incentives for private people to enter the sector in addition to government’s efforts.
On the security challenges, which PEAC said was having great repercussions on the economy, President Buhari charged leadership at every level to go back to the basics, noting that a bottom-up approach was necessary, from ward to local council, states and federal stage.
He decried the situation in which some unpatriotic people tried to undermine every policy of government, irrespective of the good it was meant to achieve for the country.
PEAC submitted that the global economy has continued to improve as COVID infections drop and roll-out of vaccination intensifies, adding that the Nigerian economy, though out of recession, remains fragile with inflation rising, unemployment high, and external account weak.
Among other issues recommended by PEAC are; decisive end to all forms of insecurity in the country, mobilization of resources for investment, hastened implementation of agricultural reform policies, passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) as a basis for revitalizing the industry, poverty reduction, employment generation, and incentives for private investment in irrigation, to promote all-year-round farming.