An elder statesman, Ango Abdullahi, has described as “stupidity” the notion that Nigeria cannot survive without resources from the South.
Abdullahi stated this while reacting to insinuations that the North has been opposed to restructuring of the nation because it would mean being deprived of resources from the South.
The former Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria noted that while the vast majority of Nigeria’s foreign exchange came from oil, agriculture remained the sustainer of the nation’s economy and it is mainly done in the North.
“No, no, no! That is stupidity because up to this point as I speak to you, it is the North that is sustaining this country because agriculture is still the sustainer of this country. Agriculture contributes …at least 45 percent (of GDP) as I speak to you now, while oil contributes about 13 percent.
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“So if you are talking about foreign exchange, money that is earned from outside, most of the foreign exchange comes from the sale of crude oil but the social fabric of Nigeria is sustained by agriculture as I speak to you now.
“So it is sheer stupidity or ignorance, as it were, for people to think that the North is parasitic to the Nigerian state. In fact, it is the state that is today parasitic to the North because without the effort of the peasant farmer in the North, the crisis in Nigeria would have probably taken us to the level of disintegration at this particular point in time,” Abdullahi said.