A few years ago, the Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Timipre Sylva predicted a future that would witness a less strategic role for oil in the affairs of the state. He spoke of a bold 'bid to topple oil' as the economy's mainstay and replace it with agricultural products, notably, aquaculture and rice cultivation.Many pooh ' poohed him as a dreamer, who to distract critics from engaging him, resorted to issues best suited to academic fora. They wouldn't listen to him when he declared at a function in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, that all what was needed to achieve this vision of an agric-driven economy was to re-route priorities that accorded more funds to agriculture and encourage the people to catch the idea, as well as support scholarly research in that sector.But as Sylva received flak over his picture of an oil-less economy, reports flew all over the world of what United States President, Mr. Barack Obama, was doing in Washington. He was setting aside billions of dollars for research to make way for alternative sources of energy to displace crude oil! Sylva had seen what Obama, thousands of kilometres away, had observed: the days of oil were numbered!Recently in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa governor kept faith with his vision, repeating his commitment to establishing agriculture as the driver of future economic development. He told his new Executive Council members that although no new projects would be embarked upon by his administration until after the governorship poll in February 2012, still he'd strive to complete those he has begun.Since these projects were budgeted for, he argued, his government is under obligation to deliver them to the people as part of his pledge when he swore to the oath of allegiance as governor of Bayelsa State.He declared solemnly: 'We are fully on course on the completion of what we started. The focus of this administration is to complete ongoing projects'.After drawing 'up a list of priority projects to be launched later in October (2011)' the governor linked his audience to what would enable Bayelsa break its unhealthy dependence on oil. He announced that a whopping N1 billion agricultural loan had been set aside for farmers in the state.His objective, he said, is to inject this fund into food production. Sylva said that this will achieve three strategic goals. First, it would empower the populace by creating jobs and drastically reduce poverty and unemployment. Next, it will feed the people through direct local (internal) initiatives. And thirdly, Bayelsa will no longer depend on the mixed fortunes of oil with all its global fluctuations, including its dollar-denominated indices.I believe that this is the dream of any nation that holds sacred the notion of sovereignty, whether political or economic. If you aren't sufficient in food production, and you have to spend a substantial part of your income on food import as we do in Nigeria, any talk of sovereignty can at best be described as dependent-independence! It's most unwise, even perilous, to leave the citizens at the mercy of the outside world for your food needs.Mind you, food can be used as a lethal weapon of war. If the people are starved in times of such a crisis, they can turn against the government and pave way for the enemy to overwhelm their adversaries. Lack of food in the society also decimates the population or makes for a malnourished citizenry who won't be able to offer maximum output in production. Now when you use all your resources on food importation, what do you have left to satisfy other needs of society like education, housing, industry, power, health and infrastructure, etc'Sylva is right to pursue his philosophy of food delivery for the people's empowerment. Critics hitting him with charges that it is a political ploy in view of the February poll are missing the point. They aren't separating politics from politicking. Politics is using public office to serve the people while politicking is applying political authority to secure power for yourself and associates.Obviously there is no tinge of the latter in Sylva's plans for the future he's envisaging for Bayelsa. They are philosophically utilitarian and economically and socially nationalistic. Indeed, what he is advocating is a reach to the politics of Nigeria's founding fathers.Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the Western Region had only cocoa as his major resource (apart from the human capacity) to lay the foundation for what has become a formidable economic powerhouse in Nigeria. Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe's Eastern Region didn't have oil either. It had coal which its leaders exploited to establish a thriving civil service and good roads in the area. It was the same story with Alhaji Ahmadu Bello's North, where the famous groundnut pyramids brought in money and jobs for the people and for the execution of great projects in the region.Those are nostalgic memories which challenge our generation and our leaders to believe that if it was possible to be self-sufficient in agriculture in the past, it is still possible today. Those who did it then had no oil. Nor did they resort to external borrowings. Yes, we may protest that their age didn't have such a vast and complex population and society as we have now to cater for or to feed and that made it easier for them to rely only on agriculture.It's a feeble apology because some of the great economies are run without petrodollars. It can't be different with us if we work out policies to regulate the influence of crude oil and advance agriculture as our chief revenue earner as Bayelsa State under Sylva is doing.'Yellowe, a retired civil servant, lives in Warri, Delta State.
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