AGRICULTURE AS AN ALTERNATIVE FOR BOOSTING NIGERIA’S ECONOMY

At the recently concluded KITs Essay Competition in Abuja where I was privileged to judge, one of the contestants stood out.
A thirteen year old with a depth of understanding.
Please enjoy.

NAME: SAMUEL OKWUCHI AKINOLA

AGE: 13 YEARS

School: Command Secondary School Zuma Barracks Kaduna Road Suleja Niger state

It is no longer surprising that at thirteen, children such as myself are fully aware of the poor economic situation in the country. The television which mom insists that I watch in order to listen to the news every day inundates us with

news on the fall of oil price and how Nigeria’s economy is negatively affected by this fall. In my home we have come up with different types of sauces to counter the lack of tomatoes. We have also resorted to pasta to deal with high cost of rice. This is what my teacher would call improvisation! That is, providing alternatives, like when my teacher would say that one could use green leaves as a substitute for green colour, charcoal for pencil, smooth rock for sharpener and so on, this is what thinking out of the box is all about, which is what Nigeria really needs at this time. Necessity they say, is the mother of inventions.

I have often wondered what Nigeria would be like if every one were to plant a tree or any other sort of plant. I am told that there are over 190 million people in Nigeria, imagine if all of us, each planted something! The trees would serve as protection from erosion, flood, provide shade, and when cut will provide endless job opportunities in factories and industries where furniture is produced. The sap from trees could be used for many purposes, the wine from the palm tree can be processed for export as a drink, and the oil from the palm kernel can equally serve as a cash crop. Wouldn’t it look wonderful if there were flowers planted all around? If flowers and trees were planted in some certain sites in Nigeria these could serve as beautiful tourist attraction that people from all over the world would come to see and this would boost

Nigeria’s economy.

My grandma used to tell us about the groundnut pyramids in the north which I once saw on the television, a magnificent sight to behold! Can you imagine if most of us planted groundnuts, how many pyramids we could have?

This will not only serve as tourist attraction but also provide an enormous boost to the Nigerian economy through groundnut oil. If we could all have a tiny fish pond and garden in our back yards every child would learn how to nurture and grow something, I could go on and on and on but my conviction and conclusion is that with the exploitation of agriculture Nigeria’s economy would continue to boom!