A specialist in animal breeding and genetics as well as agricultural business, Dr. Olaiwola Ogunpaimo, has urged President Bola Tinubu to prioritize agriculture, particularly crop and livestock production, fisheries, and forestry in order to lower the unemployment and poverty rates in Nigeria.
According to Vanguard, Ogunpaimo emphasized the need for significant investments in the agriculture sector to address Nigeria’s high rate of unemployment and poverty.
He made this statement in his speech to the sizable audience of the Conference of Bola Ahmed Tinubu National Support Groups, which was titled “Harnessing business opportunities in agriculture using local and international opportunities.”
Accordingly, he urged Tinubu’s administration to “give agriculture, particularly crop and livestock production, fisheries, and forestry, a top priority, especially in the areas of making feasible, sustainable, and impactful policies and programs that are capable of improving the current status of the Nigerian economy and creating a significant number of job opportunities for the people.”
Ogunpaimo expressed his fervent hope that “the levels of poverty and unemployment will be reduced, internally generated revenue will increase, and the overall effect of this will further strengthen the naira against other foreign currencies.”
The expert noted that the unemployment rate in Nigeria is 33.3% according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics, and that Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 34 make up about 42.6% of the total percentage while citing various reliable national and international sources.
According to the National Social Safety Nets Coordination Office and the World Bank, respectively, 82.9 million Nigerians were estimated to be living in poverty in 2021, with 40% of that population subsisting on less than $1.90 per day.
According to him, it may be challenging for the new administration to handle the existing unemployment and poverty levels given the hoe and cutlass farming methods that predominate in Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
Ogunpaimo emphasized that a country like Nigeria, with more than 70 million hectares of land, 180 million livestock, and more than 210 million people, already possesses what is needed to free its citizens from the chains of poverty and unemployment.
