In a bid to reduce its teeming unemployed
population, Nigeria will generate about 3.5 million jobs in the agricultural
sector by the end of 2015.
This was disclosed at the weekend by Coordinating
Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, at a
briefing by African Ministers of Finance at the ongoing World Bank/IMF meeting
in Washington DC.
Okonjo-Iweala said this is achievable due to
investments the Federal Government has made in the sector in the last few
months, leading to an improvement in the value chain, and the way agriculture
is being carried out in the country.
She emphasised the need for African countries to
work harder at creating their own markets, work on internal demand and reduce
barriers among African nations, to be able to stimulate growth and reduce the
continent’s vulnerabilities.
She said the continent is concerned about its growth
rate and that is why it is saying that the Eurozone and other developed
countries need to work harder so that growth rate in those regions does not
slow down, as that will affect African countries.
Okonjo-Iweala also disclosed that African countries
are now looking at how to attract private sector activities in order to
confront some challenges they face.
She therefore called on African nations to
strengthen corporation within the region to help the continent put in place a
development framework that will be good for the entire continent.
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