Stop depending solely on oil, bizman tells Nigerians

By Bashir Mohammed Kano

A Kano-based business magnate, Alhaji Isiyaku Umar Tofa, has called on Nigerians to de-emphasise the sole dependence on oil revenue accruing from the Federation Account, and concentrate on largescale farming for the survival of the country. Speaking to newsmen in Kano yesterday, Tofa said over dependence on the black gold was a ruse which would continue to elude Nigerians. He added that farming today was a vogue being embraced by most of the developed countries in the world which were seen to have made considerable headway in the parlance of self suffi ciency in food production. Citing the example of China to buttress his point, the business mogul said despite the ever increasing population of China, the most populous nation on earth, farming had taken the centre stage with the scourge of hunger being completely eliminated.

He said the “status of oil in today’s world is a curse in the face of modern technological innovations to replace its application to certain pressing demands,” pointing out that once farming was embrace by a developing country like Nigeria, the issue of over dependence on oil would be a farce.

Tofa, who is also the District Head of Tofa, advised youths to forget about the acquiring white collar jobs at the time when young school leavers and thousands of university graduates were groping in the dark in search of jobs, stressing that creating avenues for self-reliance was most appropriate. He said many developed countries in the world had attained the height of development and greatness courtesy of the resolve of their citizens to rise to the challenge of creating jobs for themselves, affi rming that they were developed as a result of non-over dependence on a single commodity to earn hefty revenues. He called on youths to shun acts capable of destroying their careers as potential leaders of tomorrow by engaging in legitimate acts to earn a living, stressing that “nothing can be achieved by committing crimes inimical to the survival of the citizenry

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