According to Shettima, with agricultural revolution, Nigeria can end insecurity and reduce poverty among its growing population.
Vice President Kashim Shettima has said there is no justification for Nigeria not to be among the richest countries in the world.
According to Shettima, with agricultural revolution, Nigeria can end insecurity and reduce poverty among its growing population.
He said such a revolution can be achieved through the deployment of technology to achieve food security in the country, NAN reports.
Shettima stated this on Saturday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, during the 13th Convocation Lecture of Al-Hikmah University.
Emphasising the value of realistic stocktaking of the nation’s assets and liabilities, the Vice President said, “Going by the amount of arable land, water resources and size of our humanity, Nigeria has no reason not to be among the ten richest countries today.
That we are near the bottom is precisely why we sought to offer our services to do justice to all that God Has bestowed us with.”
“Nigeria today reminds us that it is not enough to have potential. Indeed, the potential to grow and the failure to utilize that potential is a virtual death sentence for any living thing,” he added.
He said that Nigeria has sufficiency in what it needs to feed its huge population, grow a vibrant agricultural industry and supply huge markets with agricultural produce from which technology would have extracted the greatest value.
He said, “In 25 years, we will have a population of about 450 million people. Only about 100 million of that population will be actively involved in economic activities because the rest are either too old or too young.
“This 100 million will have to be prepared to be optimally productive, and only a visionary and sustained marriage between technology and raw assets can ensure that. We believe this can and must be done.”
