Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State on Thursday described as untrue the notion by some Nigerians that oil in the country was developed with money made from cocoa farming.
He said on the contrary that oil in Nigeria was developed with money invested by international oil companies.
He stated this during an interview on Channels Television breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily.
He insisted that Nigerians who claim cocoa money was invested into oil exploration in the country were not telling the truth.
He said, “A lot of people make a mistake and say we used cocoa money to develop oil, that’s not true.
“Multinational, international oil companies came with the capital in oil exploration and exploitation. There was no money from Nigeria, every money that came was monies from those who came to develop oil here. These are the issues Nigeria needs to resolve.”
Diri, during the interview also spoke about how his government had prioritised agriculture not minding that Bayelsa is one of the highest oil-producing states in the country.
He said, “Agriculture is a priority for this government, we are working hard to have a change of mindset of our youths to key into Agriculture. Tomorrow, the Akwa-Ibom governor is coming into Bayelsa to flag off the farming season. He will also superintend over the made-in-Bayelsa Agriculture show.
“Oil is almost going; we cannot continue to live (dependent) on oil. The focus of this government is agriculture. Let us all key into Agriculture.”