An elder statesman and former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Attah, has said that Nigeria is not a productive country, News About Nigeria reports.
Attah, a renowned architect, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen, stating that the country is merely functioning as consumers rather than producers of various products.
He noted that in the past, companies like the UAC, Nigerian breweries, and the like recruited workers while they were still in school, and those students resumed work immediately after graduation.
However, he lamented that it is no longer obtainable in the country, as the companies that are supposed to be driving the economy and providing jobs for Nigerians are leaving the country.
According to him, the immigration of these companies from Nigeria affected a lot of people, causing an economic downturn in the country.
He also noted that the agricultural sector is one of the sectors greatly affected by the downturn in the economy and insecurity plaguing various zones of the country, adding that farmers are no longer able to go to their farms and work comfortably because of the fear of being attacked by hoodlums.
He said that this turn of events has also affected the farming ratio in the country, as two farmers now try to feed over a hundred people in the city, as opposed to when about ten farmers fed just one person in the city.
Attah further expressed disappointment in the fact that a lot of industries in the country have closed down, including textile industries, adding that the country cannot even produce the food it eats.
He attributed all these to the fact that the things the country previously did, which gave it a comparative advantage economically, are no longer being done, maintaining that Nigerians are fast losing out on those advantages that gave them an edge.
