The Director General of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr. on Tuesday, September 3, explained during a Channels Television programme why the group chose agriculture as the theme for the 19th Economic Summit holding in Abuja.
To highlight the urgency of the topic, Nweke said Nigeria spends about $5-$10 billion annually on importation of food products. According to estimations, 60 cents of every dollar earned by the country is spent on food importation, he said.
Nweke warned that this state of affairs undermines not only food security, but all national security. “If you cannot feed yourself, I don’t know what else you can say as a human being, not to talk about as a nation. It is dangerous,” he added.
Nweke, the former information minister said “the choice of agriculture was very deliberate, very strategic because we think it holds the greatest promise for the diversification of Nigeria’s economy.”
He said the group had realized that people are having considerable problems in accessing credit, equipment, market, storage and evacuation of goods. Therefore all these issues will be discussed at the forum.
Nweke further revealed that the 19th Summit also aims to change the general notion that agriculture is a “social service” but a “business”. He said that there are people, who on account of the new set of policies, the new initiatives, the programmes and the kind of push that has been given to agriculture under the current Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina and President Goodluck Jonathan, have embraced agriculture and found it “feasible, viable, doable and profitable”.
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