Following
the recent decline in the price of crude oil, President Goodluck Jonathan on
Tuesday said it had become imperative to rapidly diversify the nation’s economy
away from dependency on crude oil, and focus more on agriculture.
He
noted that agriculture sector remains vital for the economy of Nigeria.
The
president made the remarks at the launch of Youth Empowerment in Agriculture
Programme (YEAP) and Fund For Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) at the
Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa in Abuja.
FAFIN,
according to Jonathan, would deploy $100million towards providing affordable
long term financing to support the development of small and medium scale
agri-businesses.
He
said
