The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday said
the massive infrastructural projects going on across the state make it
difficult for the citizenry to believe that the nation in general and the state
in particular, is undergoing economic hardship.
This was as the governor warned that the country must discourage
penchant and preference for foreign goods if it must sail through the current
economic crisis.
Aregbesola stated this when he played host to the team of
Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Osogbo led by its new General Manager, Mrs
Omowumi Omidiji.
The Governor said because of the huge work his administration
has undertaken in the state, nobody believes that the state is going through
economic crisis like other states of the federation as well as the Federal
Government.
According to the Governor, people of the state failed to
appreciate the dire economic condition of the state owing to the fact that
everyday work is going on in every nook and crannies of the state.
"The difficulty we are experiencing is almost universal; it
is national. And no sub-set of the federation is exempted from this economic
crisis. Thus, as a state, we are equally challenged. But because of the massive
work we embark on in this state, it is difficult for the people to believe that
we are going through serious challenges.
"The on-going work they see everyday in their vicinity thus
makes it difficult for the people to appreciate the seriousness of our economic
challenges. The truth is that we are challenged economically," Aregbesola
said.
The Governor said the nation must learn a great lesson in what
the country is going through now so as to forestall re-occurrence of similar
experience in the future.
He averred that with the disappointment in oil, the best elixir
in terms of diversification is agriculture.
According to him, the citizens of the country, the affluent few
in particular and the poor majority, must drastically reduce their consumption
of foreign goods and patronage of foreign services.
He said that God has been kind to the nation by giving it the
best of weather, which makes agriculture practicable in all geo-political zones
of the country round the year.
He noted that whatever can be produced locally should be the
staple foods, saying as a nation, Nigeria should depend on what her soil and
climate can best produce.
He said if the teeming population of the country refrain from
their heavy reliance on foreign merchandise, agriculture will serve as a better
alternative to oil as the mainstay of the nation's economy.
He stated that the country has the population and the market to
absorb whatever mass production of good it can embark on locally.
He however warned that if the market continues to be saturated
with 75 percent of foreign goods, the poverty trend in the country may continue
for a very long time.
He held that the nation is destined for greatness, saying the
day its local market is targeted to absorb its locally produced goods is the
day the country crosses over to its long overdue greatness.
He continued: "We need to change our consumption pattern
and domesticate and indigenise our consumption. We must reduce our penchant for
foreign goods and services to the barest minimum and increase our local
production and services.
"By this, we would have learnt our lessons and come out
better from this economic crisis. But if we refuse to learn any lesson and we
return to our reckless past, it would be sad. Generations unborn will not
forgive us.
"Whatever we can produce locally should be our staple food.
We should depend on what our soil and climate can support and produce such
crops in commercial quantity.
"If we do this, we are on the path to self-dependency and
happiness but if we continue our dependency on foreign things, we are on the
path of continued poverty and dependency.
"We must assume our leadership in the global space by first
changing our attitude to life; change our orientation and as well increase our
production activities.
"If we do this, we are on the path of greatness. Unless we
quickly do this we may remain undeveloped for a very long time."
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Society