By Bashir Mohammed
Kano
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has noted the country’s over dependence on import, describing it as disastrous to the nation’s economic survival, even as he singled out corruption as being responsible for the current economic recession.
Speaking at a Town Hall Meeting with owners of small and medium-scale enterprises held at the Government House yesterday, Osinbajo said the culture of saving had not been promoted by the immediate past administration “despite the fact that the country’s revenue earnings were expected to come from the crude oil being exported to the international oil market.”
The vice president said relying on import to satisfy the needs of the country would not be feasible without adequate foreign exchange to make such a transaction successful and fruitful.
He disclosed that even what the nation was exporting “cannot be properly processed to meet the standard of an exporting nation.”
With the abysmal slump in the price of oil at the international market, the vice president said there was the compelling need for a paradigm shift from over dependence on what was impossibly sustainable, noting that the best panacea for the present economic recession was to embrace agriculture to feed the nation.
He said agriculture was an important and strategic sector being prioritised to meet the daunting challenge of entrenching a virile and all-encompassing security system, adding that the developed nations were able to make an appreciable headway with agriculture accorded top priority.
“I am in Kano today to see for myself what is being processed at the Dangote Tomato Company; for me to take a stock on the realities on ground. It is the cornerstone of the Buhari administration to support indigenous producers to success in their mission,” he said.
Osinbajo also said the country’s future would be bright and promising with President Muhammadu Buhari calling the shots in the corridors of power, stressing that he was an honest leader who can be trusted, affirming that his administration had no safe haven for looters.
Speaking earlier, the host Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, said Kano had its own fair share during the hey days of the Boko Haram insurgency, pointing out that with close collaboration with security agencies and relevant stakeholders, the business environment in Kano was “now promising to everybody.”
Also speaking, the Minister for Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Jummai Alhassan, said the issue of social security was dear to the president with the current recession taking a heavy toll on the nation, stressing that grassroots town hall meetings would serve as an avenue for the federal government to consider areas of great responsibilities.
