The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, has said that part of his plan is to turn Nigeria from a consumption country to a production country if elected the next president in the forthcoming general elections.
Obi noted that he would embark on massive planting of economic trees across the nation for local usage, poverty elimination, export and revenue generation.
The LP candidate said this while speaking at Chatham House in London, United Kingdom on Monday, adding that his government would run a production-centered economy which will be driven by an agrarian revolution and export-oriented industrialization.
The former governor of Anambra State further promised to dredge both Rivers Niger and Benue, build dams and invest in agro-cluster and industrial cluster development across Nigeria’s geo-resource zones to take advantage of agglomeration and scale effects particularly in North-West, North-East and North-Central regions of Nigeria.
He said, “The second plank of my policy thrust is to “shift emphasis from consumption to production by running a production-centered economy that is driven by an agrarian revolution and export-oriented industrialisation”.
“With about 70 million hectares of arable land, we will pursue an agricultural revolution through proper segmentation of Nigeria to activate and harness the factor endowments of different parts of the country for both rapid and mechanised agricultural development and as a pillar for Nigeria’s other sectoral development and industrialization.
“We will incentivise and invest in agro-cluster and industrial cluster development across our geo-resource zones to take advantage of agglomeration and scale effects particularly in North-West, North-East and North-Central regions of Nigeria.
“We will dredge both Rivers Niger and Benue, build dams and massively support the planting of economic trees across the country for local usage, poverty elimination, export and revenue generation.”