WorldStage Newsonline– Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has reminded the states in the north of the urgent need to retrace their steps back to massive practice of agriculture as it was in the days of Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late former Premier of the defunct northern region.
Bago, popularly hailed as Farmer Governor, dropped the advice at the 10th edition of the Annual Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Lecture held in Borno State and organized by the Sir Ahmad Bello Memorial Foundation in collaboration with the Borno State government.
The lecture was themed “Creating Pathways for Peace: Tackling Banditry and Insurgency through Good Governance for Sustainable Development.”
In the governor’s message which was contained in a press statement from his Chief Press Secretary, Bologi Ibrahim, Bago recalled that the northern region used to be globally recognized as a giant in agriculture before the discovery of crude oil and declared that the only way to address insecurity and ensure sustainable development in the Northern Region was a return to agriculture.
Acknowledging the doggedness of the late Sir Ahmad Bello who was instrumental in making the northern region focus on agriculture, the farmer governor said there was the need to change the narrative by reverting to the old days and reduce the dependence on the federal government monthly allocation.
He also disclosed the plan by his government to commit all the free land spaces in the state being taking advantage of by bandits to agricultural activities and hinted that there were already huge resources in place for clearing of land for agricultural purposes.
Bago also suggested the need to deploy technology and mechanization that was in tune with contemporary practices and asserted that government must create enabling environment for agriculture to thrive.
Speaking on education, he said the north needed to sit down and chart a new course on what measures to take to improve the sector.
He advised that School curriculum must be in tandem with what was obtainable globally to enable the teeming youth have skills as they could not be productive without skills.
