Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has urged Nigerian banks to invest more in the agricultural sector for increased productivity and food security.
Obasanjo made the call recently in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the 2019 Annual Conference of the Association of Chief Audit Executives of Banks in Nigeria (ACAEBIN).
Speaking the three-day conference with the theme, “Banking in the Digital Age: Opportunities and Challenges”, Obasanjo noted that Nigeria’s population was growing at a faster rate than its agricultural sector, adding that such situation could spell doom for the nation if not reversed.
“Ordinarily, population is supposed to be an asset for a nation but if it is not carefully managed, it could turn to a liability and result in a crisis,” he said. He added that increased funding of the agricultural sector would also help to provide employment for the citizens, particularly the youths.
“One thing that I believe will help us is to provide employment and probably part of what will help us is agric business. You people in the banking business must pay attention to how we build the agric sector.
“I am talking of the whole value chain beginning from land preparation and if we are able to get that right, we will be able to get the issue of employment for our teeming youths right.
“Surely, we will be able to get even the issue of rural development right, and ultimately able to close the wide gap between the haves and the have not. The living standards of our people will improve and enhance their prosperity,” he said.