The Kwara State Governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, has said that the slide in crude oil price can translate into a big blessing that will bring good tidings to Nigeria if the country uses the opportunity to develop its potential in the non-oil sectors to develop the nation.

Ahmed said this in a statement issued after he received a team of Course 38 of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Kaduna State, in his office at the Government House, Ilorin, on Tuesday.

According to the governor, Nigeria is passing through the danger of dependence on mono-economy and that the survival of Nigeria's economy lies in diversification.

"Most countries that developed anywhere in the world were those that had been challenged as their ingenuity was brought to the fore. People who live in harsh environment have no option but to be innovative," he said.

The governor also stated that a shift in focus on a single-product economy through exploration and exploitation of potential in agriculture and other natural resources would cushion the prevailing harsh economic realities in the country.

"No doubt, the time is now; we all need to stand up and take advantage of agriculture and use it to drive an economy that will employ and also feed Nigerians," he said.

Earlier, the leader of the team, Brig. Gen. Moshood Jimoh, had said that the team was in the state for a strategic study of the non-oil potential of the state.

He said the theme of the course was, "Repositioning Nigeria's non-oil sector as a major source of revenue."

He added that the means of survival could no longer be limited to oil.

"Nigeria could no longer depend on oil for its survival. Governments at all levels should explore potential in the non-oil sector to drive national economy," the governor said.

Ahmed commended the Armed Forces for protecting the territorial integrity of the country. He also called for their greater involvement in nation-building programmes under a democratic dispensation.

He called for an extensive sensitisation of the citizenry so that the wealth of the country could come from a regenerative process through the development of primary products locally.