We must go back to agriculture as oil revenue shrinks - Buhari - Vanguard News

Abuja – President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigerians must stop paying mere lip service to agriculture, as crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner.

The president gave the charge at an audience with Dr Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday.

“It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice. We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many want to go into agricultural ventures,’’ he said.

Buhari pledged that his administration would also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through to get any form of assistance from government.

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We must go back to agriculture as oil revenue shrinks - Buhari - Vanguard News

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INTERVIEW: Nigeria to lead in Lighting the World through Renewable Energy - Premium Times Nigeria

INTERVIEW: Nigeria to lead in Lighting the World through Renewable Energy - Premium Times Nigeria

Clean, cheap, inexhaustible sources of electricity – every country needs it. But existing investments in power grids built on fossil fuels keeps most countries tied to costly, polluting energy sources. So who can lead the way to save-the-people/save-the planet innovations and practices. Renewable energy experts are looking to Nigeria.

Viewing Africa’s most populous country and largest economy from the air at night is to see darkness everywhere. Only India has more people without electricity than Nigeria. Yet Nigerians spend some $5 billion annually on fuel for noisy, dirty diesel generators or for even more polluting charcoal. And still most people live in the dark.

That crisis is also an opportunity says Bahijjatu Hadiza Abubakar, a mechanical engineer with a graduate degree in environmental engineering. She heads the renewable energy programme in Nigeria’s federal Ministry of the Environment and recently talked to AllAfrica about plans to build a clean-energy grid. She is an example that although President Buhari has not yet appointed cabinet members – while he conducts a wholesale investigation into official corruption – important work is being done at national and local levels.

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