Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) Osita Okechukwu, has called on state governors to help the President to actualize his target of reviving the nation’s agriculture sector by identifying with his famous BUGREV revolution
The APC chieftain regretted that Governors from ruling party, APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have failed to key into Buhari’s Agrarian Revolution (BUGREV) toward addressing growing poverty in the land.
He said the revolution launched early in the life of administration and propelled by the Anchor Borrowers Programme and other agro interventions of the Central Bank of Nigeria, are capable of reversing the massive youth unemployment and the increasing budget deficit plaguing the economy.
Okechukwu who spoke to journalists in Abuja regrets that the two major political parties have not sufficiently mobilized the youths on a bipartisan basis to embrace the agrarian revolution of the government.
“Amongst others, with massive mobilization, #BUGREV will balance our external trade deficit, assist in no small measure in offsetting our foreign loans and enhance our economic diplomacy.
“This was the stoic strength of our founding fathers, consequent upon are landmark achievements like University of Nigeria Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife”.
The VON DG observed that the nation has almost attained self-sufficiency in rice production put at about 5.1metric tons in 2019, all because of the revolution
According to him but for the take off the program early in the life of the administration, the project by international agencies concerning the food crisis in the country would have been worse than what it is. He insisted that a return to the land remains the panacea to the problems facing Nigeria in the post COVID -19 era.
“The agrarian revolution is, in other words, the solution and indeed panacea to palpable discontent, despair, gross unemployment and gross inequality in the country.
“We are among the top ten most populous countries of the world and we have the single honour of median age advantage of youths making over 60%. China, India and even USA do not have that median youth advantage, only Brazil and Indonesia approximate our ranking.
” However, this advantage also has disadvantages, this is what #BUGREV is set to correct.
He urged all Nigerians especially the youth to embrace the agrarian program
“Lets buy-in into #BUGREV, for with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Green Imperative Programme (GIP), a blitz mechanisation scheme meant to site over 600 Tractors Servicing Centers and over 100 Agro-Processing Plants nationwide, we are on good ride.
“GIP will plug the missing gap of middle class, by building faster the rural middle cadre, with effective linkage with the grass root. With one stone we kill two birds – the middle class and renews our rural areas.”
