The Kwara State Coordinator, National Directorate of Employment, Alhaji Safiliyu Awosanya and the Head of Department, Planning, Research and Statistics, National Orientation Agency, Kwara State Directorate, Ilorin, Mr. Adeolu Baba-Ijo, have said that the high unemployment rate in Nigeria will continue to grow to unacceptable proportions if concerted strategies are not applied to tackle it.

They spoke in separate interviews with our correspondent in Ilorin on Tuesday during the inauguration of NDE's rural agricultural development training scheme for 80 participants.

They added that flexibility and innovations should constitute the distinctive characters of the strategies to reduce the prevailing high unemployment rate in the country.

According to them, the adoption of commercialised and mechanised agriculture will formidably create employment opportunities and reduce insecurity and other forms of crimes in Nigeria as well as greatly boost food security.

They stated that commercialised agriculture would also quicken the pace of industrialisation and boost commerce in Nigeria.

They opined that the Federal Government's plan to ban by 2015 the importation of some food grains and some other products that were produced locally would greatly reduce unemployment and boost agriculture and industrialisation.

Awosanya, however, said the move would be effective if the Federal Government could sustain the present intervention of the Ministry of Agriculture by empowering farmers, giving them seeds, planting materials, arranging to give them credit and marketing their products so that they could be encouraged to remain in agriculture.

He stated that NDE was training and empowering a large number of unemployed people before the ban so that they would be able to produce sufficient food to fill the gap that would be created by the ban. He added that this would prevent a spiral effect.

According to him, NDE will continue to impart skills in unemployed youths, graduates and other Nigerians for self employment in agricultural production. He stated that the agency would empower the trainees within its available resources and or facilitate loans from the Bank of Industry for those with good business plans.

"We would train unemployed people in modern agricultural production system. We are emphasising on agricultural technologies that can be commercialised; where the participants after employment can be self employed, employ others and create wealth. So we are trying to introduce to them profitable ventures on agriculture over and above what is common in the past. The emphasis here is that we are generating employment and creating more jobs and income," he said.

Awosanya said it was needful to train people in agricultural production technology, provide them necessary infrastructure and empower them. He added that agriculture could be used to fight unemployment and insecurity in the country.

"Before the advent of the oil boom, agriculture used to be responsible for about 70 per cent of employment for our people. Now through agriculture, our youths could be returned to the farms with modern methods of production and good infrastructure that will make them produce and stay on the farm.

"Agriculture as being planned by the Federal government and NDE would, if the plans are fully implemented, reduce by about 60 or 70 per cent, the unemployment figure we have," Awosanya said.

Baba-Ijo said agriculture could substantially reduce unemployment and insecurity, adding that it would create more employment opportunities and provide an opportunity for the teeming unemployed youths to contribute enormously to national productivity.

He stated that dependence on food imports could constitute a security risk to such a country. According to him, it is possible that any country that is close to the dependent country could use food as a means of warfare against the citizens of that country.

"Government's plan to ban importation of some food stuffs is a good development. But if there is a ban, there should be alternative so that people will not smuggle those banned items from other countries and discourage young farmers like in the textile industry. It is good to ban but there should be alternative and ongoing process to integrate such policies," Baba-Ijo said.