The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has again challenged universities to come up with ideas to enhance agriculture productivity in the country.
He said this at the convocation lecture of the Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, while speaking on ‘Jump-Starting the Agricultural Revolution: The CBN Experience’ at the weekend.
Emefiele urged the graduating students to apply the knowledge they acquired from the school to support Nigeria’s agriculture sector.
The Vice Chancellor of FUAM, Prof. Richard Kimbir, said the CBN governor had contributed to the return and growth of agricultural produce pyramids across the country.
Emefiele also stated the impact of the bank’s intervention in the agriculture sector, stating that the cumulative effect of the interventions, among other things, assisted Nigeria to achieve progressive increase in the sector.
“The CBN is ready to invest on improved seeds by ensuring that its Anchor Borrowers’ Programme improves agricultural output by Nigerian farmers,” the Director, Development Finance Department of CBN, Mr Yusuf Yila, said.
He also expected other Nigerian youths to key into the bank’s intervention schemes like the ABP and Agribusiness, Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme, to realise the country’s goal of addressing the challenge of rising food demand.
As part of CBN’s mandate to ensure price and monetary stability, Emefiele said it intervened in the agriculture sector to diversify the Nigerian economy and mitigate the impact of worldwide shock to the economy arising from volatility in the price of petroleum.
