The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba, said the Federal Government has rolled out emergency agricultural projects to diversify the non-oil sector of the Niger Delta region.
He said this during a multi-sectoral meeting on emergency agricultural projects in the diversification of the Niger Delta non-oil sector in Abuja yesterday.
Agha said the diversification of the non-oil sector of the Niger Delta was timely as the diverse and severe impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to be felt across the world.
“The current realities underscore the compelling need for us to pay attention to agriculture as a low hanging fruit and an alternative to oil,” the Minister said.
Prince Agba said the current reality of the impact of COVID-19 on the economy
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, said with the glut in crude oil prices, his office and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would deepen the shift away from oil to non-oil revenues in the region through agriculture, agribusiness, processing and rice mills.
The CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said he is aware of the challenges associated with the non-oil sector in the Niger-Delta region as he tasked participants to come up with solutions to address the challenges and ramp up productivity in agriculture, agribusiness and other non-oil sectors in the region.
Country Director of the Action Aid Nigeria, Mrs Ene Obi, said the engine room of development is the youth and the diversification should factor in the youth by developing the environment where the youth can thrive.
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