Oil price fall didn't take us by surprise -- Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday in Abuja said that the falling price of crude oil did not take his administration by surprise.

Jonathan stated this while launching the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) and the Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that government foresaw the crisis hence the launch of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) three years ago designed to diversify the country's revenue base.

Jonathan stated that the government's massive food production efforts under the ATA had yielded 21 million tonnes of food that had created a buffer to mitigate the impact of the oil price volatility on the economy.

The president stated that the initial goal of the ATA at its launch in 2011 was to add an extra 20 million tonnes of food to the country's domestic food supply by 2015.

Today, he emphasised, the target had been surpassed with the production of an additional 1 million metric tonnes by local farmers, resulting in the creation of three million farm jobs within the period.

The president described YEAP and FAFIN as landmark initiatives of his administration that would fast-track the agricultural transformation process.

YEAP is a critical component of the ATA designed to raise an army of young farmers and agribusiness leaders in the country.

The programme targets women and men aged between 18 and 35 years and aims to provide them decent employment along priority agricultural value chains.

Jonathan said: "Since I assumed office, I have worked with great determination to reverse the scourge of youth unemployment in our country.

"That is why the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP) is very dear to me.

"It's overall goal is to contribute to food security and nutrition, rural income generation and improved livelihood for young people of our dear country."

Jonathan explained that under FAFIN, at least 100 million dollars would be deployed towards providing affordable long-term financing to support the development of small and medium agribusinesses in the country.

He thanked the Ministry of Finance, KFW Development Bank, the German Development Bank, the Nigerian Sovereign investment Authority (NSIA) and other contributors to FAFIN.

Some selected young agricultural entrepreneurs called nagropreneurs had earlier taken turns to testify to the impact of the ATA on their businesses.

Reacting to the testimonies, the president said he was seeing a great future of green economy that would be powered by young people.

"I see a future of a more dynamic commercial agricultural sector; a future where agriculture becomes Nigeria's new oil," he said.

Jonathan called on the Nigerian music and movie industries to take advantage of their large audience base to change their narrative and imagery around agriculture.

He urged them to start showcasing younger commercial farmers and agribusinesses to "make agriculture cool" and attractive to young people.

Mr Akinwumi Adesina, the Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development, said that YEAP was targeted at 740,000 market-oriented young agricultural producers in rural areas.

Adesina explained that the target beneficiaries would be school leavers and young rural farmers comprising 20,000 per state of the federation.

Under YEAP, he added, 18,000 university graduates would be turned into agropreneurs and agribusiness leaders along area-based priority agricultural value chain.

The event also featured music performance by the Negropreneur ambassador and award winning music star, D'banj.