Nigeria is adrift, says SultanFORMER President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday ascribed Nigeria's inability to feed itself to bad government policies.Also, when asked if as a big time farmer, the agriculture business in Nigeria was lucrative and whether he would therefore like to advise Nigerians to go into farming, Obasanjo simply stated: 'If you want to be a billionaire, then don't go into farming in Nigeria.'The former President spoke at his investiture by the management of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan as the organisation's 'Peace Ambassador.'The brief ceremony was held at Obasanjo's Abeokuta Hilltop Residence.Reviewing the socio-economic situation of the country yesterday, Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa'ad Abubakar, warned that the country has begun to drift from its development agenda.According to the Sultan, who is also President-General, Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), in spite of what he described as the nation's unprecedented resources, development has failed to match the national wealth.Abubakar spoke yesterday in Zaria, shortly after his investiture as the sixth Chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) by President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented at the event by Minister of Education, Prof. Rukkayat Rufa'i.The former President stated that as a Peace Ambassador, he would assist in creating awareness for IITA as a research centre and also help in achieving its goals.Obasanjo insisted that Africa could only make progress if it stopped paying lips service to agriculture 'because agriculture can create massive employment besides feeding the continent.'He stressed the need for the governments to encourage agriculture researchers, scientists, technologists and farmers by 'giving them all they need' for their vocations.'Agriculture should be treated as a business and until we take agriculture as a business in Africa, our unemployment problem would continue to stare at us in the face,' Obasanjo stated.The Sultan lamented: 'Corruption has emasculated our progress. Poverty and unemployment have pushed citizens to the brinks, fueling and confounding social conflicts; inter-communal crisis has extracted heavy toll in both human lives and property.'Persistent insecurity has generated panic and anxiety; our social and physical infrastructure are far from meeting the needs of the nation; and the country appears to be adrift and at the core of all these is ignorance and moral decay.'The Sultan also noted that the reform of the tertiary education sector cannot be effective without putting in place, the progressive developments required in the basic and senior secondary education sectors.His words: 'Our state governments, especially here in the North, must begin to realise the enormity of the challenges facing the education sector and to take urgent and necessary steps to address these challenges.'He lauded the founding fathers of the ABU, especially, the late Sarduana of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and urged the authorities of the school to continue to abide by the cardinal principles on which the ABU was founded.The Sultan said: 'For us in the university, this means a number of things. Firstly, we cannot build a first-rate university without building a reasonable consensus on how to move the university forward.'Our vision for this great institution must be a collective one where all major stakeholders take responsibility for their actions and take pride in discharging their varied roles.'Whenever we allow factionalism and primordial sentiments to dictate our attitudes and actions, we are telling the whole world that we are not ready to discharge this historic responsibility.'Secondly, we cannot be expected to establish the best university in Africa without embracing the ethos of excellence and hard work.'We must also search for the best and the brightest and encourage them to join the ranks of the community. Our processes and procedures must be transparent and fair enough to ensure equity and justice for all.
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