Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has warned against over dependence on oil revenue, pointing out that the economy would remain stagnant if not diversified.

He canvassed for a return to agriculture so as to ensure food security and further restore the economy of the nation on the path of growth.

Gov. Okorocha made these observations today while delivering a lecture titled ‘Kobo Must Return’ to the Course 35 members of the Command and Staff College Jaji, Kaduna, at the newly constructed Imo College of Advanced Professional Studies (ICAPS), Owerri. He said agriculture had before the exploration and boom in the oil sector contributed about 75 per cent of Nigerian foreign exchange earnings.

The governor called on Nigerians and government at all levels to give agriculture a priority place to revive the economy and make it stronger.

He argued that if given attention in the 773 local governments in the country where the land and labour are available to produce agro-products, agriculture will ultimately guarantee employment for the teeming youth and automatically bring down the prices of food items in the country.

While he attributed the problem of Nigeria as a nation to bad leadership, Gov. Okorocha maintained that “there nothing wrong with the Head of State but there could be something wrong with the state of the head.” He submitted that when a leader has a wrong mindset, there is nothing he/she could do to lead the people well.

To Okorocha, leadership is the ability to organise, use and control people towards producing without manipulation. He posited that leaders must inspire and motivate the people to be patriotic as well as productive to the society.

The governor further said that leaders must be visionary so as to have the ability to see from the inner mind as well as have the passion to drive their visions.

While urging Nigerian leaders to imbibe the spirit of team work, he tasked those occupying leadership positions not to be selfish as good leaders must have good character and ability to drive their vision so as to bridge the gap between leaders and the led.

•Photo: Governor Okorocha