Embrace streams of income to survive, don advises Nigerians

Prof. Olayinka Samuel Olabode of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) has advised Nigerians to embrace other sustainable streams of income to survive in the trying times.

Stating that the current economic situation in Nigeria calls for a drastic approach towards guaranteeing survival, he listed alternatives that could be combined with paid jobs as petty trading, car wash, social infrastructure, mobile waste disposal, extra mural classes, commercial transportation, laundry, land prospecting and treasury bills.

Olabode, who was the Anniversary Lecturer for the Nigeria @ 63 Independence Day Service of the Satellite Town Baptist Church, Lagos, yesterday, noted: “The financial crisis in Nigeria is daily getting aggravated, as occasioned by the daily increase in the prices of goods and services, which has made the quality of life of the majority of the citizens to be at the lowest ebb.”

The reason for this situation is traceable to the dwindling economy of the country as a result of which the purchasing power of average Nigerians has been eroded. This is more visible when the Naira strength is gauged against other currencies like the dollar, euro and pound sterling.

On the pay increase proposed by President Bola Tinubu for workers in his Independence broadcast, the lecturer said: “What we need is not enhancement of pay, but the shoring up of the naira. We must encourage local production. You don’t improve an economy by hand-outs.”

In his homily titled: “Restoration of Fortune” and taken from Psalm 126: 1-6, the host minister, Rev. (Dr.) Kayode Akintude, submitted: “As we celebrate the 63rd Independence of Nigeria, the government, especially the Minister of Industry, should address unemployment and revitalise the grounded companies.”