Amid the tension and uncertainties generated by the planned nationwide protests, a renowned thought leader has said that both the government and the governed have the responsibility of frontally tackling the challenges confronting Nigeria.
Speaking in Lagos recently during a Sunday service, Pastor (Dr) Wole Oladiyun, Senior Pastor of the Christ Livingspring Apostolic Ministry (CLAM), Omole, Lagos called on Nigerians to join hands with the Government in fixing the country, adding that “it takes time to fix a system that has been down for a while”.
Addressing the church congregation on the theme “Revamping Food Security in Nigeria through the Local Government Model”, Pastor Oladiyun advocated for food security revamping through the Local Government Model. He called for strategic collaboration between the Federal Government, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the 774 Local Government Areas of the country that will focus on a massive food production project.
“The massive land that we have in each local government should be deliberately allocated for farming. Agric produce fit should then be conducted across the 774 LGAs to determine what grows in each area”, he said. According to Pastor Oladiyun, himself a large-scale farmer, the collaboration between the Federal Government and the AFDB should cover the following:
- Provision of a strong legal framework through the enactment of the relevant laws that will guarantee the smooth running of the project.
- Funding, monitoring, and evaluation through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to be set up.
- Provision of intensive training on Agric literacy, and farm machinery for the youths.
- Provision of top-level community-based security architecture in every Local Government Area.
- Involvement of all specialized agricultural institutions such as the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Nigerian Institute for Oil Palm Research, Benin City (NIFOR), National Horticultural Research Institute, Ibadan (NIHORT), etc.
Pastor Oladiyun charged the national and sub-national governments to be intentional, sincere, and consistent with the food revamping project, saying it is the easiest way out of the nation’s economic quagmire.
It will be recalled that over five years ago, Pastor Oladiyun called on all Nigerians to return to farming because God told him that the prosperity of Nigeria is tied to a massive agricultural revolution.
He assured Nigerians that God is fixing Nigeria, and called for patience. “Very soon, things will pick up. I appeal that we exercise more patience and show better understanding with the government. The rot in Nigeria over the decades will not be cleared overnight.”
