18 February 2014, Abuja – The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, and Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State in Kaduna on Tuesday decried the over-dependence of the nation and especially the North on oil.
The Speaker believed without the revenue accruing to the states from crude oil, most of the states would have collapsed.
Tambuwal was of the view that the years of being pampered by the massive oil revenue had made the North intellectually lazy and bringing the region more problems than it could reduce.
Speaking at the inauguration of the new leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum, he noted that it would be more justified to consider a Nigeria without the over-arching influence of oil on the nation’s politics and economy.
The Speaker said, “I know that a future without oil, which provides most of our external earnings, is not a future to be contemplated lightly. I know that as things stand right now, without the money from the Federation Account, most of it derived from oil, practically every state in Nigeria, not just in the North, will collapse.
“Years of being pampered by the massive revenue that oil provides, with such abundant ease, have made all of us intellectually lazy, reduce the place of hard work in the polity, compromise morals, and cause more troubles than it has resolved.”
He said the economy of the region could only flourish if the agriculture sector was fully revived and utilised.
Abdulfatah, speaking as guest speaker at the inauguration, in his lecture titled ‘Northern Nigeria Economy Free of Oil Revenue’, called on northerners to stop depending on oil resources and embrace agriculture, which used to be the mainstay of the region.
– The Punch