Nigeria would be in trouble if we hadn’t persuaded people to return to agriculture – Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, said Nigeria would have been in trouble by now if not for his government’s decision to embrace agriculture.

Buhari spoke at a virtual meeting with members of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) at the State House, in Abuja on Tuesday.

President Buhari stressed the position of agriculture in the government’s scheme to reduce joblessness and poverty.

“For us to bounce back to productivity, especially in agriculture, the unemployed with many of them uneducated had to be persuaded to go into agriculture,” Buhari said.

‘‘If we hadn’t gone back to the lands we would have been in trouble by now. That is why we virtually stopped the importation of food thereby saving jobs and foreign exchange.”

The President also broached the issue of COVID-19 pandemic and how it necessitated the recent government policies as they relate to energy (electricity) and fuel.

He said the Federal government took such decisions because it places the country above politics.

“COVID has reduced us to the same level as developed countries.

‘‘We are lucky we went back to the land. We eat what we produce. We are doing our best to secure the country and provide infrastructure for investment to be viable in the country,” he said.