By Dipo Olowookere
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, has called on investors to put their money into agriculture, emphasising that this would generate more revenue for the country and not real estates.
Mr Dogara made this call on Sunday when he visited the Integrated Dairies Limited in Vom, Plateau State. He said investments in mechanised farming would no doubt benefit the larger society than estates.
According to him, at this point in time, what Nigeria needed was more foreign exchange, which real estate cannot provide enough, but agriculture.
Though the Speaker did not say investing in real estate was totally wrong, he stressed that owners of land and capital should just look beyond building of estates for rent and move into agriculture, where they can provide employment while generating wealth.
”I want to call on other entrepreneurs in Nigeria, especially those who have capital in hand, to take to mechanised farming and for most of our businessmen, who think that the only way you can make money is through rent seeking to now see this as an example where you can add value to people’s lives and our nation’s economy.
“If you look at milk produced in Nigeria, if we continue to depend on imports that will deplete our foreign exchange in the sense that we have to contend with a situation whereby we always apply for forex to be able to bring in these products.”
Mr Dogara commended the management of Integrated Dairies Limited for contributing to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
