Rochas Okorocha, the governor of Imo State, has said that Nigerians are over dramatizing the current economic recession, The Whistler reports.
The governor, who made the statement while hosting a team of officers from the National Defence College, NDC, at the Government House, Owerri, on Monday, October 10, 2016 said: “I think what we call recession has been over dramatised. I say so because agriculture had remained the nation’s main pivot upon which all the sectors of our economy revolve.
“Because this vital sector has been neglected, it has given rise to poverty today, including the rise in the dollar and the fall of the Naira.
“Most times in Nigeria, we treat the symptoms rather than the disease.
“Let us discuss more about the disease, which is the total neglect of the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy by our past leaders”, he added.
According to him, before the advent of oil, agriculture provided over 70 percent of employment and resources of the nation, as well as over 75 percent of Nigeria’s foreign reserves.
“At that time, we were a rich nation. Oil made us lazy. This led us into this recession. Imo State is keying into the revitalization of the agric sector.
“We have gone deep in our palm plantation and we are moving speedily into rice farming,” Okorocha added.
