Oil crash is an opportunity to diversify economy - Gov. Ahmed

dimeji akinloye

January 26, 2016 4:32 PM

According to Ahmed, Nigeria is passing through the danger of dependence on mono-culture economy and that the survival of its economy lies in diversification.

The governor of Kwara state, Dr. Abdulfatah Ahmed

Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara says Nigeria should use the opportunity of slide in crude oil price to develop its non-oil sectors to finance infrastructure development.

Ahmed made the suggestion when a team of Course 38 of Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State, paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House, Ilorin on Tuesday.

He said the slide in crude oil price could be a blessing in disguise and could translate into good tidings if the country used the opportunity well. Ahmed said a shift in focus on a single product economy to agriculture and other natural resources would cushion the prevailing harsh economic realities in the country.

"Most developed countries had been challenged as their ingenuity was brought to the fore. People who live in harsh environment have no option but to be innovative.

"We should stand up, take advantage of agriculture and use it to drive an economy that will employ and also feed Nigerians. This is the time for us to take that advantage”, he said.

Ahmed said it was worrisome that Nigeria was a major importer of rice despite its potentials of being the food basket of the West African Sub-region.

He added that a proper synergy between the federal and the state governments must evolve on how to properly explore and exploit vast solid minerals in the country for economic growth.

The governor called for extensive sensitisation of the citizenry that the national wealth must come from a regenerative process through the local development of primary products.

"We must take advantage of the land, the surface water, the sunshine and most importantly the population to transform this country into an economic hub”, Ahmed added.

He commended the armed forces for protecting the territorial integrity of the country and called for their greater involvement in the nation building under a democratic dispensation.

Leader of the team, Brig. Gen. Moshood Jimoh said the team was in Kwara for a strategic study of the non-oil sectors’ potentials of the state.

Jimoh said "the theme of the course is Repositioning Nigeria’s Non-oil Sector as a Major Source of Revenue.”

He held that Nigeria could no longer depend on oil for its survival, adding that government at all levels should explore potentials in the non-oil sector to drive the economy.

dimeji akinloye