Governor Ajimobi
The new agriculture initiative of Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State is being boosted with an investment of $30m by a Nigerian entrepreneur.
Mr. Babs Aina, Managing Director of Numerix Development Limited, offered to invest the sum in the sector with a view to rejuvenating the state’s economy.
Mr. Aina made the pledge at the second consultative assembly organised by the state at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan.
He promised that the figure would progressively increase to $100m in the next few years, adding that the investment would target maize and soya beans in the interim.
At the forum were the Director-General of IITA, Dr. Nteranya Sanginga; Director, Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Prof. James Adediran, top officials of research institutes and the Head, Development Finance office of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Ibadan, Mr. Bamiji Akinola.
Also in attendance at the event tagged “AgricOyo” were top officials of the Cocoa Research Institute, National Horticultural Research Institute, Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria, federal ministry of agriculture, among others.
Speaking at the event, the governor stressed that the target of the state was to harness the agriculture potential of the state with the ultimate ambition of becoming the food basket of the South-West, Nigeria in the short run and West Africa in the long run.
Ajimobi called for attitudinal change among the people, advising that the people must work hard to survive instead of relying on prayers alone to provide their needs.
He said, “Now that oil, which is the major source of economy of Nigeria, has crashed the government and our people should put to maximum use the available landmass, physical infrastructure and clean environment to invite investors for the economic growth of the country.
“Nigeria is now at crossroads, because even our strategic reserve is nothing to write home about. Oil is our largest source of income in Nigeria, but it has crashed due to oil glut in the international market.
”We are very lucky in Oyo State. Out of our 33 local governments, 28 are agrarian. So, what Lagos State has in water, Oyo State has in land. We need to harness these through the agriculture value chain to revive our economy.”
Source: The Nation
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