The Asagba of Asaba, His Royal Majesty, Prof. Epiphany Azinge, has spoken on the consequences of oil as the mainstay of the nation’s economy.
Addressing participants of the Senior Executive Course 47 of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Plateau State, who paid him a courtesy visit, the monarch noted that oil had relegated other national assets to the background, including deep sea, rivers and marine resources, which have equally high economic potentials.
The monarch said dependence on quick oil wealth had adversely affected fishing, which was a major occupation in coastline areas of Nigeria in times past, as one could now hardly find fishermen in such areas, including Asaba community, strategically located by the bank of the River Niger.
He maintained that the nation’s economy could only come to its fullest potential when diversified to the blue economy, amongst others, stressing that trawls needed to be deployed to the deep sea to fish for shrimps, prawns, calamaris and so many other aquatic animals that could yield substantial income and boost the nation’s economy.
The Asagba said ”if we embrace this diversity, the blue economy, I believe that we can sustain our economy to the fullest and we will have more than enough to invest in many other sectors.”.
“I always tell people that for me, the major component of our Constitution is Chapter 2, which deals with the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy.
Whether it is economic, social or political objective, for me, that is the manifesto of this country, and any party that can hold on tenaciously to that will win the hearts of the people.”
“And many will argue; how do we raise funding? For me it’s because we’ve not been able to diversify effectively, that’s why the blue economy, independent of the mining aspect of it, all put together into our diversification projection, could help us to raise sufficient money to drive the fundamental objectives, in the sense that we can now be talking fully of free education at all levels, we can talk about healthcare of our people and so many other needs of our people- food, housing, clothing, among others”.
He pledged support for the Federal Government’s diversification project, describing oil as a wasting and gradually depleting asset, calling for bold steps to put the economy on the right footing, while expressing the hope that the interactions and interrogation to be carried out by the course participants would go a long way in achieving the set purpose.
Earlier, the Directing Staff and leader of the NIPSS delegation, DIG Adeleye Oyebade, (rtd), said the visit was to pay respect and homage to the Asagba, whom he described as an astute administrator, a constitutional lawyer of high repute, a man of integrity, a patriotic Nigerian of no mean stature and a great philosopher.
The Course 47 team leader revealed that they were in Asaba, with the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to interrogate and seek ways to use the treasures inherent in the ocean, otherwise known as the blue economy, to diversify the nation’s economy and reduce dependence on oil.
