What we must do to avoid another #EndSARS protest – Senate President

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, has advised Nigeria’s political leaders to make sure the interest of youths in the country is well taken care of, especially in the area of massive job creation to avoid further protests from the youths.

Senator Lawan who spoke at the 2021 budget defence by Minister of Agriculture Sabo Nanono in Abuja, said political leaders shouldn’t wait until youths start to grumble or protest before taking decisive action on providing job opportunities.

He said: “We should be proactive, we should reach them and most of them are in rural areas and give them what we can and what they need to some extent within the limit of our resources and keep them there to live a productive life.  “That is the only way that we can make a difference in the lives of the people.

He also insisted that agriculture is enough to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria.

“Every time we talk about the diversification of the Nigerian economy, the first sector they mention is the agricultural sector. So it means this sector needs to be given all the support that is possible. Oil cannot give jobs to the youths that we have, only a few people and mostly white-collar jobs but we know that this sector can give everybody a job.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Agriculture Abdullahi Adamu, decried low budgetary allocations to agriculture over the years.

He said while the Maputo declaration provides that 10 percent of national budgets should go to agriculture, the 2021 allocation to the   sector is less than two per cent of the N13.8 trillion appropriation.

Adamu said: “In 2021, the sector (agriculture) witnessed a slight increase with a total allocation of N139,458, 322,208.00. Over the years, the sector’s allocation has been abysmally low.

While Nanono admitted that budgetary allocations for the sector have for a long time been low, the sector remains one of the fastest-growing   in the country.