The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, on Monday, cautioned political office holders and policymakers against paying lip service to youth unemployment.

He challenged his colleagues in positions of authorities to factor youth employment and empowerment into the 2021 budget so as to escape another round of #EndSARS protests.

Lawan gave the warning when the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Sabo Nanono, led top officials of his ministry to defend its 2021 budget before the Senate Committee on Agriculture.

The Senate President said, “Recently, we had protests by some of our youths. Some of them, very genuine, were seeking the attention of leaders and they got the attention.

“So, our budget, especially for 2021, should be mindful of what we do to provide employment opportunities for these youths.

“They demonstrated, they protested because they could do so. There are so many other people who may not be youthful but are also in the same need. They didn’t protest.

“Let us meet them where they are, we don’t want to wait until they also start to grumble or protest we should be proactive.”

''So we should meet them there. Give them what we can and what they need to some extent, within the purview of our resources and give them there, to make them live a productive life and that is the only way we can make a difference in the lives of the people.''

The Senate President said, with a practical and radical approach, the Agriculture sector would change Nigeria’s fortune.

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Continuing, he said: ''This sector(Agriculture), without prejudice to any other sector, is enough to turn around the fortune of Nigeria, something that the oil has not been able to do.

“But why have we not been able to do so? We need to be very practical and radical. I believe that the way we go will not take us to El Dorado. But there is every potential, every possibility and there are so many experts here.

Lawan said the oil sector and the white-collar jobs could no longer provide the required employment to keep the youths busy and financially stable.

''Oil cannot give jobs to youths. Only a few people. Mostly white-collar jobs. But we know that this sector(Agriculture), from the President, to the last man or woman in the country, and it has all the potential to create the wealth that we need to have a fairly and meaningful life for everyone.

“So we need to apply ourselves fully to operating this sector. Government alone cannot make it happen. The government can come up with the necessary and desired policies but those that will make it happen are the private sector,” Lawan said.

The Senate President described the Agriculture sector as the “mother of all sectors” in the Nigerian economy and urged all stakeholders at all levels of government to accord it more attention.

“I still believe that we need to do better for this sector because to do better for the Agriculture sector is to do better for Nigerians and what can be better for a government than to do better for its citizens.

''I believe that this sector is the mother of all sectors in our economy. We have the potential across the country to grow anything.

“Is it not time that we start to think of maybe one crop per Local Government Area or something like that because this idea was mooted before.

“Do we need to be talking of Agriculture only at the Federal level? Where are the states? Where are the local governments because we don’t have land. The states and the Local Governments have the land and the people. So we need to come up with better strategies of engaging everybody, every stakeholder.''