Dr Hamza Soliu, a lecturer in Economics Department, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, has urged the Federal Government to invest more in agriculture to boost diversification of the country’s economy.
Soliu gave the advice in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday.
He said that it was no longer realistic for the country to depend on mono product, adding that the government must sustain the tempo on aggressive investment in agriculture as key sector to drive economic growth.
According to him, investment in agriculture is still at low ebb and there is need to step up to strengthen the diversification agenda.
The don also urged government to complete refineries in the country and ensure their functionality to reduce the money spent on fuel importation.
“The strategy to increase revenue is to reform the oil sector such that refining can be done locally.
“Subsidy payments will stop by putting in place local refineries for the country’s main natural resources.
“And if all these are not deliberately planned and executed in four to five years period, it will be difficult to achieve,” he said.
Hamza called for continued reduction of recurrent expenditure to provide more infrastructure required for diversification drives.
He said that the recurrent expenditure was still too high hence the need for further reduction to address infrastructural deficit.
