President Goodluck Jonathan gave reasons that might have led to the failure of the farming programmes, such as the Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) and the “Green Revolution” did not achieve the desired results. The OFN was established by the military under General Olusegun Obasanjo and the “Green Revolution” in the Second Republic by the Shehu Shagari government. Jonathan spoke at the beginning of the National Schools’ Agriculture Programme (NSAP) at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Abuja. According to him, the “Green Revolution” and OFN might have failed because they were not properly articulated. He said: “This is not just one of those programmes that we have been having. As a nation, we have had the ‘Green Revolution’ programme launched; we participated in that. We also had the ‘Operation Feed the Nation’. But at the end of the day, probably, it was not properly articulated; it just followed the political class and disappeared.” Jonathan said the NSAP was aimed at developing a new generation of young agriculture enthusiasts, adding: “This programme is actually to make sure that our students will no longer take agriculture as a form of punishment in schools but see it as a business and a way of making money.” The President said his administration was intent on making agriculture a profitable business, not only to make the nation food sufficient but to also tackle youth unemployment. He said the NSAP was expected to build a crop of Under-20 Nigerians who would be adequately motivated and trained to live as great agriculture industrialists and entrepreneurs. Jonathan gave examples of Nigeria’s business and industrial moguls like Aliko Dangote and Tony Elumelu who are venturing into agriculture business. He said: “We need the Under-20s to link up with the Dangotes, Elumelus and other big Nigerian entrepreneurs. This is part of our strategy to tackle youth unemployment. We are developing agriculture Super Eagles”. He promised to meet once a year at an agriculture stakeholders’ conference with participants of the NSAP programmes who will be drawn from several schools across the country. According to him, some former heads of state will be incorporated as ambassadors and role models of the NSAP to further encourage and inspire the students. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on NSAP, Baraka Sani, described the programme as Nigeria’s first non- curriculum agricultural programme designed for Nigerian students to change their negative perception of agriculture, equip them for life, and eventually help tackle youth unemployment. The goal of NSAP, she said: “is to build technical and entrepreneurial skills in students to run agriculture as a business, to leave school leavers with practical skills to create jobs for themselves, and to enable the youth develop a positive attitude towards agriculture.” According to her, the pilot phase of the NSAP is to establish school agribusiness clubs in selected schools in 12 states across the geo-political zones. Each club, she said, will have 120 students while the multiplier effects of the programme are expected to benefit about 372,960 Nigerian households. Governor Martins Elechi of Ebonyi state in his remarks assured the President that the good example laid by him with the NSAP will be supported by the governors as part of their efforts to ensure agriculture revolution of the administration’s Transformation Agenda.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 08:43:51 +0000
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