The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has vowed to make the agricultural sector the bedrock of Nigeria’s new economy if elected in the 2023 presidential election.
Tinubu equally promised to undertake reforms in the farming, fishing, and livestock sector that will make the industry competitive.
The APC presidential flagbearer said this during a meeting with stakeholders in the agro-allied sector in Minna, the Niger State capital on Monday.
The two-term former governor of Lagos State further emphasised the important role agriculture played in the country’s economy before the discovery of oil, adding that all the states in the country have the ability to offer one or two things to ensure that the nation fully produces what it consumes.
Tinubu said: “Northern Nigeria has great agricultural potential due to its abundant arable land. It must continue to march at the forefront if the sector is to significantly advance at all.
“Every state and the FCT have some degree of competitive advantage in agriculture, whether horticulture or crop production, fisheries, poultry or animal husbandry. Properly developed, these assets will not only satisfy our domestic needs but make Nigeria a global force within a short time.
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“If Nigeria fully harnesses its agricultural potential, our exports will rise to the level such that we shall feed much of sub-Saharan Africa, allowing us to better balance our economy while fostering social tranquility, stronger consumer bases and political goodwill between us and other nations in the region and on the continent.”
Also speaking at the event, the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu, said Tinubu would do well for the Nigerian farmers because he understands their plight.
On his part, the Director-General of APC Presidential Campaign Council and Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, said Tinubu “is the son of a market woman who traversed both rural and urban communities as she plied her trade”, adding that the APC presidential candidate would connect the city and rural economy to create prosperity for the farmers if elected as president.
The groups that endorsed the APC candidate at the event included the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Maize Association of Nigeria, Miyetti Allah Keutal Hore, Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, and Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria.
At the event, Tinubu, who adopted the presentation by the Chairman Progressive Governors’ Forum and Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu, appointed him to head a committee to fashion a blueprint that would help position the agricultural sector.
Others at the event were the APC vice-presidential candidate, Senator Kashim Shettima; Governors Abdullahi Sani-Bello (Niger), Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa), and the party’s governorship candidate in Niger State, Umar Bago among others.
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