President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday said focus on agriculture by his regime “is paying off handsomely”, and “Nigerians are not regretting it”.
The President noted that with this improvement some Nigerians are now leaving white collar jobs for farming and are glad doing it.
According to him, this was enhanced by the Federal Government’s back-to-the-land policy.
This was contained in a statement by his media aide, Femi Adesina, on Friday, titled, ‘Nigerians not regretting our back-to-the-land, President Buhari rells ex-Ethiopian PM’.
According to the statement, the president as disclosed this while receiving in audience former Prime Minister of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, His Excellency Ato Hailemariam Dessalegn Boshe.
He was quoted as saying, “We needed to go back to the land, as petroleum could no longer sustain the country, particularly with fluctuating prices. Today, we eat what we grow, and we have stopped importation of many food products. There’s no foreign exchange to even waste again.
“Agriculture has also helped us to generate employment. We have embraced technology, and some people are even leaving the offices to go back to the land. And they are not regretting it. That is the feedback we get.”
In his response, the former Prime Minister congratulated Buhari for achievements Nigeria has attained under him, especially in agriculture, and for successful management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Saying he was in the country on the auspices of Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, His Excellency Boshe noted that the organization was working in 16 countries in Africa, “and if we want to change anything in the continent, it must start with Nigeria.”
He stressed that Africa must emulate what is happening in other parts of the world as regards agriculture, and with Nigeria having achieved greatly, being able to stop rice importation, “we want to champion the Nigerian policy at the continental level. We should have a common African voice on food self-sufficiency. Africa can feed the globe.”