ABUJA: Africa imports over $35.4 billion worth of food items yearly, with Nigeria accounting for $11 billion of the bill, the Acting Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Waheed Olagunju, has said. He said Bol was working to make farmers see farming as a business and not a subsistence activity. To this end, BoI has come out to teach farmers good agronomical practices and best practices in soil preparation, among other things.
Olagunju, who spoke at a media parley in Lagos titled: “Sustaining Nigeria’s industrial sector growth through impactful partnership,’’said as a country with a huge population, Nigeria needs to feed her citizens and also export to other countries to grow her Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said: “Huge population can be advantageous if it is productive, otherwise it becomes a liability. As a country with 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs), with each LGA blessed with at least a natural resource, we have no reason not to feed our population or create employment”. While encouraging investments in farming and food processing, the BoI chief said investors can never go wrong. According to him, Nigeria ranked fourth with 35 per cent on Return on Investment (RoI) globally.
