Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says if Governors and private sectors collaborate with the bank to boost agriculture and industries, the country will generate 10 million jobs yearly.
Emefiele said this during a meeting with governors of Cassava Producing States in Abuja on Thursday.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that CBN also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nigeria Cassava Growers Association and Large Scale Cassava Processors at the event.
He said the 100 million jobs in 10 years President Muhammadu Buhari set as part of his agenda was achievable.
According to him, if all stakeholders work together, 10 million jobs can be created annually.
“Creating 10 million jobs yearly should be a collective efforts and all hands must be on deck to achieve that.
“Achieving this, the states need to be economically viable, for states to be economically viable, it means CBN and the state Governors need to partner to see how we can harness the potential that are inherent in the states.
“We need to do it so that those who are farming can have access to finance so that they can produce not just for consumption but in commercial quantities.
“For instance, the value chain in cassava production alone has enormous potential for employing more than two million people in the country if well harnessed.
“We place a high premium on cassava because the commodity can generally be used for different purposes along the value chain due to the diverse secondary products that it offers.
“Some of the products include High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF), Starch, Sugar Syrups and Sweeteners and Chips.
He added that cassava could also be used as domestic livestock feed and for export to China, Ethanol and bio-fuels, High Fructose Cassava Syrup (HFCS), Fuel Ethanol (E10) as well as Animal Feed from cassava waste among others.
Also speaking, Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state commended Emefiele’s zeal to develop agriculture.
Fayemi said South-West where he hailed from produced bulk of cassava in the country.
He said the states in the zone had various cassava processing plants but had no require quantity of cassava to use those plants.
On insecurity, Fayemi said it should be addressed as herders and farmers’ clash was still a threat to boosting agriculture.
NAN reports that the governors of Ekiti, Ondo and the Deputy Governor of Ogun attended the event.
