By LOVETH AZODO, Lagos
The Governor of Lagos State, Akinwumi Ambode has indicated that the Federal government May resort to granting of subsidy on food production to boost the non-oil sector of the economy.
He gave the hint against the backdrop of the federal Government’s successful effort on Rice production in the country and the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) tremendous efforts on the Zero Oil Plan.
Ambode said this while encouraging the production of locally made product and services that not only satisfy the local market and to meet competitive export demand at the NEPC and Stakeholders meeting held in Lagos.
He commended the Federal government on her leadership skills shown towards the production of rice in the country.
Explaining the food subsidy feasibility Ambode said: “There are more people walking on the street of Lagos than on vehicles, if we can give subsidy in fuel we can also give in food, so why can’t I give subsidy in rice, why must I sell rice and allow them to buy at N21,000? if I can make Kebbi produce more rice and they sell to me at N14,000 and I Make up my mind to sell at N12000 I give both the rich and poor subsidy of N2000, is it not better than fuel? That is the Idea.
Speaking on the zero oil plan he said “other people have been using vehicles without oil, so something must be wrong with us, if we are not thinking 2050 in 2018. In the broader sense, beyond agricultural product, beyond other things, this is one singular opportunity for us to create a road map of an export quality for the next twenty five years which each state will decide and make up our mind that it is the national policy on export and that is what we need to follow”.
Also speaking, Executive Director/ Chief Executive Officer, NEPC, Mr. OluSegun Awolowo, said “the nation is coming into acceptance of the diversification program of Federal government of Nigeria hinged on the Nigeria Industrial revolution plan, the Zero oil plan and now the economic recovery growth, so that is the way to grow but we need to scale up, we can only export what has been produced meaning that we need to produce more”.
“There should be life after Oil, Nigeria should be able to survive in an Economy where we don’t sell Oil” he said.
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