Non-involvement of youths in the present administration of the country has been attributed to the telltale result of the current economic woes.
The Ogun State Governorship candidate of Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the last general elections, Otunba Rotimi Paseda, stated this on Saturday while delivery a speech on the topic “Raising Our Future Generation” at the annual youths seminar organized by the Ultimate Achievers Initiative held at Mowe/Ibafo in Obafemi Owode local government area of the state.
Otunba Paseda stressed that the inability of both the federal and state governments to maximize the full potentials of the youths is responsible for the economic ailment, which has crippled the country’s agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
He pointed out that the tale woes of the economy made the home-made goods globally uncompetitive while jerking up the value of local currency.
He said the neglect of the youths in decision making of government policies has done more harm than good to the agricultural sector of the economy, emphasizing the need to divert the energy of the youths into agriculture, which was the nation’s goldmine before oil discovery.
Otunba Paseda, who was represented by his Political Coordinator, Engineer Babatunde Folarin, opined that there is urgent need for the government to properly fund and monitor Agriculture-oriented institutions, agencies, farmers and relevant stakeholders, as well as provid them with high-quality seeds, fertilizer, feed and modern technologies.
According to him, about 2.02 billion people are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide, while 575 million of these people are from Sub-Saharan Africa, of which Nigeria forms a larger part.
“Food crisis and the attendant poverty are the tell-tale result of our neglect. And this will be so, because our farmers are old and the energetic youths were left out.
“Our dear nation is presently trapped in a suffocating web, having relegated Agriculture, which is her initial goldmine to oblivion at the expense of oil wealth. Now that the oil-wealth has turned to oil woes, the country is embroiled in food crisis and her citizens are ravaged by abject poverty.
“Instead of beholding the legendary ground nut pyramid in the North, the sprawling barns of cocoa in the Southwest, the mountainous heaps of coal in the Southeast which were the hallmarks of our past efficiency and industry, we are today daily witnessing the evidence of misplaced priorities and inefficient utilization of God given endowment.
“Narrowing down to Nigeria, the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Human Development Report informs that not less than 25.5million of the estimated 170million of Nigerians go to bed with empty stomach daily. When you compare the aforementioned staggering figure of poverty-stricken Nigerians with the report of FAO on soil productivity in Nigeria, you see no justification for poverty in the land.
” A nation that does not equip the youths will remain stagnant and retrogress. China today, has become world Trade Centre and technologically driven as a result of her vision to adequately utilize the potentials of the nation’s economy. What is wrong with Nigerian government and the youths?
“The earlier our government realized the urgent need for proper funding and monitoring of Agriculture oriented institutions, agencies, farmers and relevant stakeholders, as well as provision of high-quality seeds, fertilizer, feed and modern technologies, the better for our Agriculture sector”, Paseda averred.
He however promised to support youth initiatives that would help them actualize their real potentials with a view to making them self-reliant and contribute their quota towards taking Ogun State and Nigeria to an enviable height.
“The zeal to effectively engage and encourage the youths to actualize their real potentials triggered our resolved at Paseda Legacy Foundation to take youths course as part of our core priorities and make them independent without becoming political tools.”