Vice President Kashim Shettima has expressed dismay at the inadequate funding for technology and agriculture, claiming that this has hampered efforts to eradicate poverty and put an end to insecurity.
This was said by Shettima during the weekend's 13th convocation lecture at Al-Hikmah University in Ilọrin, the capital of Kwara State.
The vice president expressed disappointment that ninety percent of Nigerians still make their living with hoes and cutlasses.
He said, “100 years ago, our forefathers were eking out a meager existence using cutlasses and hoes. Even now, 90 per cent of Nigerians are living a subsistence existence using hoes and cutlasses. This calls for investment in modern technology.
“I have a picture of a town in central Borno that was taken in 1900 and when you juxtaposed it with the one taken in 2020, there won’t be any remarkable difference.”Shettima reaffirmed the necessity of developing our agricultural sector to actualize food security by utilizing the technology's growing influence.
He asserted that Nigeria can overcome insecurity once its economy expands to drastically lower levels of poverty, adding, "Only an agricultural revolution can guarantee this."
Based on the quantity of arable land, water resources, and human population, he claimed Nigeria has every right to be listed among the world's ten richest countries.
The vice president expressed gratitude to the school administration for renaming the Faculty of Nursing Complex, which he had personally commissioned, in his honor.
