Olusegun Obasanjo, a former president, claims that political elites, not farmers, are to blame for Nigeria’s inability to produce enough food on its own on Sunday during a lecture held in Abeokuta, Ogun State, to celebrate his 86th birthday.
Obasanjo voiced concern over the failure of Nigeria and Africa to grow the agriculture sector by utilizing advances in science and technology and further urged Nigerians to place the blame for the continent’s food shortage on the nation’s political leaders.
The former Nigerian President during his speech said “I believe that God has not created Nigeria as a basket case. God has created Nigeria for a great purpose. At independence, the world did not refer to Nigeria as a giant in Africa, no, they referred to Nigeria as a giant in the sun, Nigeria was more than a giant in Africa, it was a giant in the sun. But, not only have we not been giants in the sun, we have not even been giants in Africa. Some people called us giants with clay feet.
“So, that is not what God has created Nigeria to be, that is what we Nigerians have inadvertently or advertently made Nigeria to be.
“But, will Nigeria continue to be so, I believe no. So, we must continue to hold ourselves together, pray and understand all the factors and the elements that are making us not the giant, but the dwarf of Africa and how we can get out of it and I believe and pray that we will get out of it.
“Food security is very important and as long as we are not reasonably self-sufficient in food and nutrition security in Africa, we are of course not doing the right thing for ourselves.
“Until the Ukraine war, I really did not realize how much we in Africa, almost all of us in Africa depend on the Russians and the Ukrainians for wheat. Wheat which is used to make bread is only carbohydrate, are there no carbohydrate foodstuffs that can be produced in Africa that we can be self-sufficient in. I know some of our countries cannot produce wheat and this is the sort of thing that IITA has been doing.
“Science and technology have given us all that we need for food and nutrition security in Africa what is left is political will and political action.
“And if we don’t have food and nutrition security, we can’t blame our scientists. Instead, we can blame our politicians and our farmers, but more so the politicians than the farmers because, as someone who has served at both helms, I can tell you that the farmers are ready if the politicians give them all the incentives and encouragement they need to succeed.