by Barnabas Esiet

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – Jamie Rixton, General Manager (GM) PanAfrican Group (Agric Division) in Nigeria on Friday said the Mohammed Buhari’s administration quest to transit from oil based economy to agriculture is going to be an uphill task, more so as there has not been any significant investment in the sector during the oil boom days by past administrations in the country.

Rixton said this in Lagos when  a delegation of the Nigerian Association of Agriculture Journalists (NAAJ), paid him a courtesy visit over the weekend. He disclosed that Nigeria imported less than 250 Tractors every year in the past five (5) years, reflecting a significant decline compared to about 2500 Tractors imported between 1988 and 1992.

“I feel the present government is trying to do something right but as far as the transformation from oil to agric, to be honest to you, it’s a very tall order because in my opinion the previous governments should have saved for a rainy day, they had plenty opportunities to do that but they didn’t. You imagine how much was produced from oil in terms of revenue, it bugles the mind how many billions and billions of dollars that represents. Now the situation would be that oil has gone from over a hundred dollars down to about $26 per barrel there’s a problem but the issue is the fact that government had all that money instead of thinking long term what to do with Agric they left it until now,”. he noted.

Rixton urged the Nigerian Government to take a cue from Brazil which had similar situation like Nigeria by adopting their agric transformation model. The PanAfrican Group representative decried the current restrictions placed on dollar sale in the country noting that this has affected the company’s operations and its ability to procure essential agric equipment.