Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said the oil and gas sector can no longer sustain the nation in the face of burgeoning population.
Obasanjo said this when he hosted the leadership of the apex socio-cultural group of the Tiv from Benue State, Mzough U Tiv (MUT) at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) penthouse in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, at the weekend.
He urged fellow Nigerians to see the country as one for all “to save it and restore to what God has created it to be”.
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The elder statesman, who was responding to a speech by MUT’s President General, Chief C. P. Iorbee Ihagh, noted that only more farming and modernised agricultural businesses could solve the food needs of Nigeria’s growing population.
In a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former President and renowned farmer advised the Tiv nationality to focus on farming and agricultural businesses.
The elder statesman said he had treated the burning of his farm in Benue State as an act of fate, hinting that he might establish an industry in the state next year.
Obasanjo said he supported the change of the country’s leadership from the North to the South while, adding that the Middle Belt should continue to call for rotational presidency.
If Nigeria is ready to get it right, the 2023 election should be a turning point. We should not go for emotion that will destroy us.
The ex-President, who was conferred with the title of a “Great Warrior” of Tiv land by MUT, warned that voting for candidates on the basis of emotions would be destructive.
Ihagh said the group’s friendship visit “is basically to interface with you as our former Head of State, a political pillar, a nationalist, and an elder statesman, to appreciate your overwhelming love, passion and he concern you have demonstrated over the Tiv people”.
