@aareago, this is a lovely piece of work, with in-depth analysis of the nation’s economic situation, supported with facts and recommendations. i agree with you on everything, and i am surprise that Nigeria as a country, with vast land that can be used for farming, will stoop so low to be importing items such as tooth pick. I remember a long time ago, the nation used to be the highest producer of Palm. According to IndexMundi “https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=palm-oil”Now the nation ranks 5th in the world with a meager 930 (1000 MT) behind nations like Indonesia (33,000), Malaysia (19,800), Thailand (2,000) and Columbia (1,108). Everybody knows that the Malaysians came to Nigeria to get seeds and learn how to grow the cash crop. In your words “Our capacity to sustain this leadership waned as we curtailed our production due to whatever reasons, which resulted in the loss of significant market share.” Thereafter, we have continued to play catch-up to countries that have none other than Nigeria to thank for their emergence into the lucrative palm oil sector.

This is woeful, and i think we as a nation should trace our step back home to Agriculture. That is the source of our popularity and future of our economy. Alternatives for oil and gas (source of energy) are being researched everywhere, but there will never be an alternative for food and agriculture.