Kwara Governor To Northerners: Stop Depending On Oil

Kwara State governor,  Abdulfatah Ahmed, said on Tuesday that the discovery of oil in the country did more harm than good to the north, asking northerners to stop depending on oil revenues and concentrate on agriculture which was the main stay of the northern economy before the advent of oil.

Delivering a public lecture entitled: “Northern Nigeria Economy Free of Oil Revenue,” at the Annual General Assembly of the Arewa Consultative Forum, the governor said the discovering of “crude oil caused severe dislocation in the region’s socio-economic and political ecosystem.” He noted that it was time the north go back to agriculture as farming has the potential to return the region back to its past glory and development.B Ahmed warned that the region would not be able to achieve functional agricultural base as long as its people live below western education and poverty level.

He said: “while I acknowledge that much of our infrastructural development is attributable to oil revenues, the fact that the discovery of crude oil has caused severe dislocations in our socio-economic and political ecosystem is beyond reproach. “The exploration of oil triggered significant policy shifts, especially an ill-advised focus on the export of primary petro carbon by products at the expense of agriculture from which we are yet to recover.

“Furthermore, ongoing agitation for resource control and allocation and the consequent clamour for fiscal federalism demonstrate the need to free our region’s economy from oil revenue. Additionally, northern Nigeria’s immense agricultural resources strongly recommend a revival of the agro-based wealth that the region once enjoyed.” He expressed confidence that the north will survive without oil revenue saying, “If Federal allocations were to cease today, for example, I am confident that the 19 states of Northern Nigeria will overcome the initial hiccups to build strong agro-based economies.”