The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has emphasised the need to revive the agricultural sector to create jobs and revitalise the economy of the Niger Delta region.
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NDDC, Dr Samuel Ogbuku, made the call at a two-day stakeholders’ retreat with commissioners of agriculture and permanent secretaries from the nine states of the Niger Delta on unlocking the agricultural potentials of the region.
He noted that the meeting aimed to find ways of harnessing the agricultural potential of the region, adding that the outcome of the engagement would cascade into a regional agricultural summit with clear road maps for future investments in agriculture in the region.
Ogbuku said agriculture has the potential to create sustainable jobs for the youths of the region more than the oil and gas sector.
He said beyond oil, the Niger Delta region has the capacity to become a food hub of the country, calling for proper harnessing of the arable lands and water resources that adorn the region for economic revitalisation.
Ogbuku highlighted that the region before the oil revolution was known for farming and fishing, and the production of cash crops, which he said were almost extinct in the region.
He emphasised the need to go back to them to make the economy viable outside the over-reliance on oil and gas.
He also said the decision to revive the agricultural sector of the region and make it economically viable was in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu on food security for the nation.
‘We believe that we have the capacity as a region of not only feeding this country through our rich natural resources in oil and gas, but we also have the potential in agriculture, which we have not really harnessed, to test how we can feed Nigeria.
‘We have the comparative advantage when it comes to aquaculture; we have the rich land mass. We are really blessed as a region. This is a time that we conceive that as part of the cardinal objectives of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu which food security is one of the major points, we thought that let us also take it seriously. It is not enough as a commission to build roads, schools, and hospitals; this is a time for us to also look after our stomach, ‘ the NDDC MD said.
He added, ‘Crude oil production eroded our traditional economy, which was fishing and farming. This is the time for us to go back to our traditional economy because that economy is a natural economy and it is a sustainable economy.
‘It is only through agriculture that we can secure sustainable employment because agriculture has the variables which are under our control, but in the oil and gas sector, most of the variables are not under our control.
The NDDC boss disclosed that the commission would go into partnership with Origin Group and the Niger Delta Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Trade, Mines and Agriculture (NDCITMA) to build a food hub in the Niger Delta region.
On his part, the Rivers State Commissioner for Agriculture, Engr Victor Kii, while welcoming his colleagues from across the Niger Delta States, highlighted that state governor, Siminialayi Fubara, was doing so much to revive moribund agricultural investments in the state, such as the Songhai Farm, Fish Farm, Cassava Processing Plant, amongst others.
He expressed the hope that the retreat would bring about synergy amongst the Niger Delta states in agricultural investments.
The meeting afforded state commissioners on agriculture the opportunity to present actions geared towards reviving agriculture in their respective states.