Nigeria not rich –Aregbesola

August 30, 2012 by Tunde Odesola, Osogbo 

Osun State Governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola
| credits: File copy

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said Nigeria does not possess the wealth it professes to have, describing the country as “poor indeed”.

He spoke on Tuesday night at the Government House during a dinner to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the state.

He said research had shown that the Nigeria’s oil reserve would dry up in the next 50 years, stressing that the country must evolve economic strategies to meet yearning challenges when oil dries up.

“At the maxim, oil will dry up in the next 50 years. Nigeria’s problem is not political but it is economic. How are we going to survive when oil dries up,” he emphasised.

The governor said the N4tn accruable annually to the country on oil sales was grossly inconsequential when compared to what the country needs to develop.

Explaining that if the N4tn is shared among 160 million Nigerians annually, each Nigerian would end up with a few thousand naira, adding that after the sharing there would be no money to develop infrastructure and pay wages.

Aregbesola urged Nigeria to embark on production as a means of developing her economy, noting that agriculture was a major means of earning foreign exchange.

Commending Cuba’s rural healthcare delivery, Aregbesola stressed that the country’s human resources must be harnessed for development.

SOURCE: The Punch - Nigeria's Most Widely Read Newspaper 30 August 2012.