The Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan, on Monday warned elected officials and policymakers that they would not be spared should their be another round of protests in the country by the youth.
He, therefore, charged governments at all levels to pay attention to job creation in the country, insisting that youth unemployment should not be trifled with.
He insisted that youth employment and empowerment must be given priority in the 2021 budget in order to avert another round of #EndSARS protests.
Recall that youths had taken over major towns and cities in the country for two weeks in October, demanding real change in governance.
Lawan who spoke when the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Sabo Nanono, led top officials of his ministry to defend its 2021 budget before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said: “Recently, we had protests by some of our youths. Some of them, very genuine, were seeking the attention of leaders and they got the attention.
“So, our budget, especially for 2021, should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths.
“They demonstrated, they protested because they could do so. There are so many other people who may not be youthful but are also in the same need. They didn’t protest.
“Let us meet them where they are, we don’t want to wait until they also start to grumble or protest.
“We should be proactive, we should reach them and most of them are in the rural areas and give them what we can and what they need to some extent within the purview of our resources and keep them there to live a productive life and that is the only way that we can make a difference in the lives of the people.
“And for us, elected people, we are going to be accountable. If we escape this one (#EndSARS protests), the other one is inescapable and I am sure people will know what I am saying.”
The Senate President insisted that agriculture was enough to turn around the fortunes of Nigeria.
“This sector can do something that oil has not been able to do. But why hasn’t it been able to do so? We need to be very practical and radical.
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“I believe that the way we are going, will not take us to the El-dorado but there is every potential, every possibility and other countries have made it through the sector.
“Every time we talk about diversification of the Nigerian economy, the first sector they mention is the agricultural sector.
“So it means this sector needs to be given all the support that is possible. Oil cannot give jobs to the youths that we have only few people and mostly white collar jobs but we know that this sector can give everybody a job.”
The Chairman Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Abudullahi Adamu in his opening remarks lamented the low budgetary allocation to agriculture over the years.
According to him, while the Maputo declaration provides that 10 per cent of national budgets should go to agriculture, the 2021 allocation to the agricultural sector is less than two per cent of the total budget.
“Over the years, the sector’s allocation has been abysmally low, a far cry from the Maputo declaration which states that a country should allocate at least 10 per cent of their national budget to the agricultural sector.
“This year’s budget proposal only allocated less than two per cent to the agricultural sector,” he stated.
