Invest in agriculture, infrastructural devt, Sen. Balogun urges leaders

The Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District, Senator Kola Balogun, Monday advised Nigeria leaders to start investing in agriculture, infrastructural development, education and health.

Senator Balogun gave the advice while speaking at a 3-day training for youth in Ibadan which was held at Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR&T), Ibadan.

He said Nigeria would have being among the economic viable countries if the country’s past leaders had invested in agriculture, infrastructural development, education and health, adding, the country would not have been where it is presently, if its past leaders had spent its resources wisely.

” If Nigeria has so much resources in the past, if we had excess in the past, if we had invested in agriculture, infrastructural development and health, by now, Nigeria would not be here. So, by now Nigeria would have developed. Nigeria would have been one of the developed countries. We would not be here”, he said.

Senator Balogun said it was unfortunate that hundreds of graduates of 10 to 15 years in the country are still roaming about the streets without jobs to do .

“Today, I have hundreds of CVs of young people in my office, graduates of ten to fifteen years are still roaming around without jobs. A country like Nigeria should not import oil. We should be exporting refined petroleum products at this time”.

He added, “What I am doing is part of my own contribution to reduce unemployment rate in the country”.

Speaking, the executive director of IAR&T, Prof. Veronica Obatolu, stated that the institute has been partnering with various stakeholders in order to reduce unemployment rate in the country. She added that this she carried out in form of training and retraining of youth, women and unemployed in various areas of agriculture.