The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday warned that another #EndSARS protest would be a disaster, if issues that led to the youth restiveness were not addressed.
He gave the warning at the opening of the 2021 budget defence of the Ministry of Agriculture at the National Assembly.
He said, “Recently, we had some of our youths protesting genuinely. They were seeking the attention of leaders and they got the attention of leaders. So our budget especially for 2021 should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths.
“They protested because they could do so, there are so many other people who may not be youthful but are also in the same need and they didn’t protest. Let’s meet them where they are. We don’t have to wait until they also start to grumble or protest.
“We should be proactive, we should reach them and most of them are in the rural areas and give them what we can and what they need to some extent within the purview of our resources and keep them there to lead a productive life and that is the only way that we can make a difference in the lives of the people. And for us, elected people, we are going to be accountable.
“If we escape this one, the other one is inescapable and I am sure people will know what I am saying.”
Lawan urged Federal Government to take practical steps to transform the sector in its efforts to diversify the economy, describing agriculture as the mother of all sector.
He said, “Let me say this that this sector and without any prejudice is enough for the economy, something oil has not been able to do. But why haven’t we been able to do so.”
“We need to be practical. Other countries have made it through this sector. Anytime we talk about diversification the first thing we mention is agriculture.
“Oil cannot give jobs to the youth only few, mostly, white collar. But we know that this (agriculture) sector can give everybody a job and give us the opportunity for a better life. It has all the potentials to create the wealth that we need to have a fairly and meaningful life for everyone.
“So we need to apply ourselves fully to operating this sector. Government alone cannot make it happen. Government can come up with the necessary and desired policies but those that will make it happen are the private sector.
“Is it not time that we start to think of maybe one crop per Local Government Area or something like that because this idea was mooted before,” Lawan said.
The Ministry of Agriculture has a budget of N139 billion – a slight increase from that of last year.
On his part, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Abdullahi Adamu, complained that the budget was abysmally low; calling on government to come up with policies that will stimulate agriculture revolution.
He said, “I enjoin you to build long lasting structure that will ensure we grow what we eat and we eat what we grow.
“Over the years, the sector’s allocation has been abysmally low, a far cry from the Maputo declaration which states that a country should allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budget to the agricultural sector.
“This year’s budget proposal only allocated 9.2 per cent to the agricultural sect.”
