From Okwe Obi
A former Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission (NCPC), Prof Kennedy Opara, has attributed the weak nature of the naira to the increased volume of imported goods.
Opara, who is the Chairman of CSSP Farm, Gora, told journalists recently that Nigeria must look inwards, especially in agriculture, to strengthen the naira.
According to him, the government must be deliberate in not only funding agriculture but also providing an enabling environment for the training and retraining of farmers.
He added that without adequate training and the mechanisation of the agricultural process, Nigeria would continue to rely on the import of basic foodstuffs.
Apart from relying on imports, he said insecurity will skyrocket because most youths would resort to crime to survive.
He said: “We need to put the youths together and train them. Nigeria can be exporting food to so many nations without any challenge. But as long as we are not able to train and empower them, the land we have will remain underutilised.
“So, this training is to empower people to farm and produce food, and insecurity will become a thing of the past. Without employment, there will be constant insecurity. It does not matter what you do.
“When people are gainfully employed, they will be able to use their time. We need to make sure that we maximise this opportunity to help our people, and that is what we are doing here.
“I want the government to support in the area of bringing unemployed youths from different states for training.
“Niger State has 7.6 million hectares of land, three times bigger than Israel. So, they can afford to give the government one or two million hectares of land.
“And the government, in turn, will bring unemployed youths to be trained and then provide the land and the inputs that they need so that they can start growing food. And I can tell you, we will earn a lot.
“The only way we can stabilise our currency is by increasing the volume of our exports. As soon as our import value is higher than our export value, we will continue to experience the problem of dollar exchange.
“So, we need the government to help raise unemployed youths, bring them together, and train them.”
He added, “Until you discover your vision, there is no life. You can only predict your future when you discover your vision.”
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