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Over Reliance on oil Responsible for Unemployment

By on October 18, 2012

Poverty in Nigeria attributed to Oil

Over reliance on crude oil is said to be the cause of unemployment, poverty, kidnapping, militancy, and terrorism in the country.

The declaration was made by the Chief Executive Officer, Koinonia Ventures Limited Femi Boyede, he said, Nigerians are suffering because the nation has relied too much on oil.

Boyede said this during a press briefing on the 3rd Nigerian Non-Oil Export Conference, Exhibition and Awards (NNECEA), 2012 in Abuja, he spoke on the theme, ‘Enhancing Nigeria’s Non-Oil Export Opportunities: Strategic Imperatives,’ saying the detection of crude oil in commercial quantity has been a curse, not a blessing to the country.

“There is need for diversification from oil to the non-oil sector. Let us focus our attention more on the non-oil sector. Crude oil is a wasting resource, which we can’t control or determine its increase, neither can we influence its price in the international market. It has killed our creative thinking which we have to go back to now,” he said.

“The non-oil sector, if properly harnessed by government and the private sector, is capable of creating jobs, enhancing rural development, boosting real sector growth, and contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).”

“NNECEA’s focus is on branding, packing, and incentives, particularly the Export Expansion Grant EEG. That is why NNECEA is doing all it can, in partnership with NEPC to move the non-oil sector forward,” he stated,” he said.

On the other hand, the Chairman of the joint planning committee and Director of Special Services in the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Olajide Ibrahim, took a different turn and named, quality, packaging, branding and incentives as the next issues to be deliberated upon in the next meeting.