Rural dev’ll grow nation’s GDP by 30% – Sen Ezea

By Ihechukwu Sunday

Senator representing Enugu North in the 10th Senate, Okey Ezea has said that rural development was capable of unlocking the nation’s wealth potential as well as growing the Gross Domestic products (GDP) by 30 percent in the next five years.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government, as well as local and foreign investors to shift attention to opportunities in Nigeria’s rural areas to be able to tap the benefits.

Senator Ezea made this known at a forum in Nsukka, Enugu State, to inform his constituents about some of his constituency projects and his legislative agenda for the New Year.

He said intentional rural development could lift the country’s GDP from the current World Bank’s estimates of around $1.315 trillion to $2 trillion or more if the appropriate measures were taken to harvest the hidden wealth in rural communities.

Currently, the contribution of Nigeria’s rural population, which constitutes more than 45 percent of the country’s total population to the national GDP is estimated at 25 percent, but Ezea believes that with the right policy actions, the country would get a lot more from this segment of the population.

“When I speak of rural development, I do not want to be understood as referring to the urbanization of the rural areas. On the contrary, I am talking about the exploitation of the abundant economic opportunities in our rural communities, the creation of wealth through deliberate policy actions and redirection of investment opportunities.

“There is a lot we can gain from investing in the economic opportunities in our rural areas. Unfortunately, it appears the business community does not see the abundant opportunities, but investments in agriculture and its endless value chain are one area that is capable of taking millions of people out of poverty through job creation and birthing market opportunities where none existed,” he stated.

On how this can be done, the senator said a lot depends on the priorities of the government in providing enabling infrastructure and creating financial opportunities.

“One thing that governments at the federal, state, and local government areas should do is to be deliberate about the provision of infrastructure in the rural areas. Roads are important, so also are agricultural inputs. This is why in my constituency projects I am paying attention to the construction of rural farm roads, provision of fertilizers and other items that enhance farming. Our intervention is chiefly to point towards the direction of what we believe should be the area of greater national priorities, and that is why I believe the government at all tiers should shift attention to rural economic exploitation through the provision of access roads, potable water, and other tangible and intangible amenities,” he said.

He called on the government to creatively provide finance opportunities for small-scale investors in rural areas at friendly rates. This, he stressed, will ensure that productive capital gets to rural entrepreneurs, curtail migration, and “become the nectar that will draw the interest of bigger private sector investors that will be attracted by infrastructure, and availability of opportunities along the value chain, thus changing the economic fortunes of the country in five years or less.”

“If government at all levels becomes intentional about this, the 30 percent increase which I projected will likely be surpassed. Our traditional agriculture resources alone are enough to transform this economy if duly and profitably exploited. If we then exploit the various value chains of the crops we produce, like yams, cocoa, cassava, oil palm, and all the fruits and grains that thrive in many parts of this country, I do not see any reason we wouldn’t be globally competitive in food production in a few years,” he concluded.