Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph
Aloysius Ratzinger) who recently left the papacy voluntarily over health –
related challenges, is reputed as one of the most scholarly religious leaders
of all times. Apart from his global rating as one of the finest theologians to
have sat on the throne of Saint Peter as the leader of the nearly two billion
Catholics globally, Pope Benedict, the German-born cleric was in the news
in the year 2008 to have warned the World about the danger inherent in
excessive consumerism and materialism.
Frustrated at the crass abandonment
of the time-tested Christian values and the speedy decline of the beautiful
civilization of religious values among the Western populace, Pope Benedict XVI
warned the West against the acceptance and popularization of the vices of
consumerism and materialism.
In fact, Pope Benedict XVI called
this evil tendency of excessive indulgence in consumption and materialism as
the ‘false idols’ of consumerism.
In
a story written for The Telegraph newspaper of Britain on 17th July 2008, the 81-year-old then leader of the Catholic Church said
there were signs indicating "something is amiss" in modern society.
Referring to consumerism and the lure of "false
idols", he said: "In our personal lives and in our communities, we
encounter a hostility, something dangerous; a poison which threatens to corrode
what is good, reshape who we are and distort the purpose for which we have been
created."
He warned young pilgrims "do not be fooled by those who see
you as just another consumer".
Speaking in English, the pope also addressed climate change,
warning that the world's natural resources are being squandered in the pursuit
of "insatiable" consumerism.
"Perhaps reluctantly, we come to acknowledge that there are
scars which mark the surface of our earth - erosion, deforestation, the
squandering of the world's mineral and ocean resources in order to fuel an
insatiable consumption," he said.
Clear five years after those prophetic affirmations were made by
the German – born Pope, the political leader of the largest black nation in the
World, President Goodluck Jonathan, also brought home the same message of the
extent of rot that the ‘Idol of consumerism’ has done to the Nigerian
agricultural sector in the sense that Nigerians have now become notorious
consumers of foreign food products.
At the 7th Annual
Banking and Finance conference in Abuja, on September 10th 2013, Jonathan
lamented the high amount spent annually on the importation of food items that
could be sourced locally.
“Our import of
agricultural products as of last year, we spent N630 billion. We are now
ranking number one importer of rice. I don’t know the ranking but I think
we can also compete well in importing fish, and also in wheat and sugar, and
this is a big challenge”, he stated.
The President who was
represented by Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Yarima Lawal Ngama,
made references to the 3.3 billion dollar facility which Aliko Dangote
signed with some banks saying, “I think there is no reason why the banks cannot
come together to say that by 2015 Nigeria will not import a single grain of
rice”.
“That is a
big challenge. We have put the policy in place to discourage importation
of rice but the main issue is production,” he added.
At the conference with
theme, ‘Upholding Professionalism in the Financial Services Industry: Supporting
the Economy,’ the minister challenged the bankers saying that many countries in
the world are proud of agriculture and mining, but not in Nigeria.
He said the oil sector
that Nigeria relies on has few exploration companies, few drilling companies
controlled by Nigerians, “so the bulk of the money leaves Nigeria or will not
even come to Nigeria, because even the bankers are foreign bankers. But when
you look at agric and mining, the entire cash flow will revolve within the
country. It will have a bigger multiplier effect on the economy than the oil
sector.”
But to borrow from the
saying of the legend- professor Chinua Achebe of the blessed memory, we must
ask question regarding 'when the rain started to beat us' and that is to say
that we have to reflect extensively on when Nigerians became so lazy that
institutionally, the agricultural sector that used to be the dominant foreign
revenue earner prior to the discovery of crude oil, has suddenly taken the back
burner so much so that we have become a dependant nation for food produce.
To this conundrum we
will hasten to hear from the immediate past minister of national planning Dr.
Shamsudeen Usman who has carved a niche for himself as being frank and straight
to the point.
In an interview carried
on the website of Channels television of September 3rd, 2013, the
former minister who also had a stint in the Central Bank of Nigeria [CBN] as
Deputy Governor, recounted the evolution of Nigeria’s involvement in
agricultural endeavours and implementing policies since the 1860’s.
Dr. Usman recalled
Nigeria’s minimal involvement in the agricultural sector from 1860 - 1950,
saying that only “ad-hoc attention was paid to agriculture” but noted that by
the 1950’s and 60’s “we attempted the diversification, research and extension
services even as he claimed that various steps were adopted to boost domestic
production, especially cash crops and added that such a move was targeted at
the export market.
According to the former
minister of national planning, during the aforementioned period, Nigeria became
the largest producer of rubber, groundnuts, palm oil and the second largest
producer of Cocoa among others.
The Kano -born
technocrat further affirmed that Nigeria within the period under
review, renewed its focus on livestock and fisheries just as he recalled that
the first national development plan had a very strong bias/focus on
agriculture.
In the 1970’s and 80’s,
he claimed that petroleum revenue came in and with the lack of attention to
agriculture “we started to decline in policy support and public funding for
agriculture which consequently led to strong decline in domestic production and
rising level of dependence on agricultural imports".
Shamsudeen Usman, who
demonstrates deep understanding of the agricultural sector, also blamed the
then marketing boards for deviating from their mandate but instead were
converted to taxation instruments to finance development, which was a
disincentive itself to agricultural development.
When read side by side
with what can be referred to as the “Abuja agricultural lamentation” of
President Jonathan, one is left with no option but to state that the Nigerian
government indeed knows when agricultural decline started and judging by
the benefit of hindsights, the current government working in partnership with
the National Assembly must introduce legislative instruments to compel the
commercial banks to lend money and credit facilities on liberal terms to
genuine farmers so that mechanized farming can become the order of the day even
as the needed infrastructure to make farming a profitable business in the
country must be effectively implemented and built. Rural roads infrastructure
and good storage facilities in the different parts of the country are
imperative.
It is simply a flight of
common sense that Nigeria with vast arable and/or cultivable lands and
agricultural -friendly climate cannot feed her growing population but will now
become a net dependent on foreign food imports.
For well over fifteen
years, public debates have being raging on how to reform land ownership in
Nigeria and the need to award certificates of ownership of lands to all land
owners all across Nigeria so that the finance institutions can accept these
instruments as collaterals to grant loans to genuine farmers who approach these
finance institutions with efficient agricultural plans.
The only way to restore
our national pride and make Nigeria self-sufficient in agriculture, is for the
existing legal regime that governs land ownership to be fundamentally reformed
and governments at all levels must create the enabling environment for farmers
to obtain credit facilities from banks and other extension services from
trained experts in the agricultural ministries across the country.
President Jonathan can
exorcise the ghosts of the Idols of consumerism afflicting Nigerians by
implementing workable measures to transform the agricultural sector to once
more become vibrant so the nation can once more re-invent the famous “Great
Groundnuts' Pyramids” that Kano is known for and the palm plantations in the
South East including the Cocoa plantations in the South West so they can
stage beautiful pragmatic return to Nigeria.
Let government take
concrete action so our agricultural sector can be revived so we can stop this
perennial national
lamentations.
* Emmanuel Onwubiko;
Head; HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS’ ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA;
blogs@www.huriwa.blogspot.com;
www.huriwa.org.
12/9/2013
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