Rufai Huseni: Nigeria needs to think

It should be said that the production capacity of Nigeria,has always been incumbent on several factors.
This factors ranged from a holistic national movement,to the dominance of the rural economy.

Holistically, looking at the dominance of the rural economy,Our success in the agricultural sector was as a result of the dominant local economy.

Cocoa had always been the mainstay of the rural economy(Nigeria supplied 18% of the world’s cocoa in the 60s). In the south west ,the government only felt it safe to develop that infrastructure,the Odua investment group sufficed.

The industry thrived and there were visible evidences everywhere:One was the cocoa house a 26 storey building commissioned for use in 1965 built with cocoa money,the other was the over 300,000 metric tonnes in the 70s (Nigeria’s highest yield of cocoa)

Also,It should be stated,that Obafemi Awolowo’s free education policy was completely paid for from proceeds of Agricultural to buttress this (Nigeria supplied 65% of tomato to west Africa) .

Across board,Our production capabilities increased tremendously in the north and East.Agriculture alone accounted to 60% of our GDP and 70% of our exports 

In Kano,we had the groundnut pyramids that helped in boosting trade in the region,bolstered by the influx of the Arab traders.

In sapele, we had a thriving rubber and timber industry that criss-crossed the nation,supplying rubber to Adeola Odutola factories in Ijebu Ode.

Speaking of production,The thriving local industries,We had the likes Odutola who was producing tyres and had quite some traction(today we import tyres).

The likes of the Adetola’s and Okunowo(who had a damask factory) made the productive industry in the south viable and it should be said,This was happening across Nigeria.

The Okomu oil palm company in Edo state founded in 1976 was thriving,As well as industries springing up in bompai, Kano.

It should be said with that with these industries import was less and we were sustainable.

When the government of Olusegun Obasanjo started “Operation feed the Nation” OFN,in the 70s and The green revolution following closely,these were projects to shore up the economic potentials of the country but it was not well articulated because,things had changed,oil was the focus.

Whilst our dance of triumphalism continued with oil,We lost essence with agriculture and the situation today is dire.

We spend about 1.2 trillion Naira every year (One-sixth of the national budget) on importing everything from fish to wheat.

Malaysia still stuck to oil palm and they are doing well today, while we produced oil palm and deviated,Malaysia continued and today they produce about 18.2 Million tonnes per annum.

I believe a mix of Agriculture( Having 86 million hectares of untapped land),the vibrant tech industry and A robust effective Service delivery Over the next 20 years will put Nigeria on a viable pedestal for success.