Ademola Babalola in Ibadan
For the nation to witness a boom in the area of foreign exchange from agricultural sector of the economy, the Youth Agric Mandate (YAM) has promised to create 720,000 job opportunities for both skilled and unskilled workers through agribusiness and entrepreneurship skills for the teeming Nigerian youths within three years.
The Group Head of the organization, Akinolu Olubayo made this known while speaking at the group’s launch and press conference in Ibadan on Thursday.
He said that there was an urgent need for the government to diversify various sectors if the economy so as to attain solid economic growth.
He disclosed that 20,000 youths were expected to benefit from the job opportunities in the 36 states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.
While noting that petroleum had contributed substantially to the country’s revenue since its discovery, however, he said it was a known fact that for a country to attain growth and development, its economy had to be diversified.
“Diversification does not occur in a vacuum. Mono-economy needs to give way to the productive development of various sectors of the economy,” he said.
According to him, since independence, Nigeria has been well known for the significant amount of its exports of items like groundnuts, cocoa and oil palm products.
He explained that there exists a positive relationship between economic growth in Nigeria and diversification of other sectors because “when there were proper management of human resources, huge investment and concentration on agriculture, Nigerian economy was recorded to be healthy and vibrant.”
