Nothing underscores the fact that Nasarawa State is exploiting its vantage position as a state endowed with vast agricultural potential like the recent presidential recognition it got as Nigeria’s number one destination for agricultural investment.
Recall that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo declared Nasarawa as a leader in agro-investment at the commissioning of the multi-million naira Pandagric Novum Farms, an integrated feeds and food manufacturing company in Panda, Karu Local Government Area of the state.
Specifically, Prof Osinbajo who chairs the national economic council, described Nasarawa as the most suitable state for agro-investment.
For emphasis, Pandagric is one of the many agro-allied industries that have found the Home of Solid Minerals, under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Sule, suitable for investment.
Unarguably, the endorsement of Nasarawa as the most agro-investment-friendly state in the country is significant for many reasons considering the fact that it came from the Vice President who heads the National Economic Council (NEC), the body saddled with the mandate of advising the president on economic affairs, particularly on measures necessary for the coordination of economic planning efforts and programmes.
Plausibly, Governor Sule’s effort especially as it pertains to making the environment favourable for investment generally in the state and agro-investment in particular, underscored his resolve of supporting the drive towards making the state and indeed, the country centre of agro-industrialization in sub-Saharan Africa.
To understand Governor Sule’s focus on agriculture, which is gradually turning the state into an investment hub; it is apt to know that Nasarawa State, located in the central part of Nigeria, has a landmass of about 27, 137.8 km2 with agriculture as the main economic activity of its inhabitants who are predominantly farmers.
Although there are many rivers in the state, the population engaged in irrigation farming is insignificant. Crops grown include grains such as rice, wheat, soya beans, beans, maize, and millet, as well as tuber crops such as yam and cassava. The bulk of crop production in the state is undertaken by small-scale farmers most of whose labour force, management and capital originate from households. Agriculture employs a larger percentage of the working population but agricultural landholdings are generally small. The average number of farm plots per household ranges between 3 and 30 plots and between 0.4 and 4.0 hectares.
This is the situation Governor Sule, himself a serial entrepreneur and board room guru, is through adroit implementation of favourable programmes and policies, effectively harnessing to the greater advantage of all.
Indeed, this is yielding positive results as the state has continued to play host to different investors who, with their presence, are further boosting it’s economy and making jobs available for teeming able-bodied youths. There is the Dangote Sugar Refinery in Awe local government area, Olam Farms in Doma LG and Golden Sugar Company, a subsidiary of the Flour Mills of Nigeria, is set to establish a $300m Sugar Company in Toto LGA.
The Kano-based Azman Rice Mills and Farms Limited has also moved into the state and is working on 20,400 hectares in Toto LGA in a move that will activate an all-year-round rice farming, while opening a window of opportunities for local farmers in the state, among other benefits.
The importance of this on employment generation and poverty eradication cannot be easily quantified as Dangote Sugar alone is poised to employ 30,000 youths in the state and significantly reduce the importation of sugar. Perhaps this lent credence to what the deputy governor Dr Emmanuel Akabe said about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s total sugar needs coming from Nasarawa state by 2024.
According to Dr Akabe, the Dangote Sugar Refinery in Awe Local Government Area (LGA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria in Toto LGA will produce 40 per cent of the sugar needs of the country. He explained that once the companies started production in 2023 and started producing maximally in 2024, they would be producing 40 per cent of Nigeria’s sugar needs conveniently.
“I can tell you that by 2024, 40 per cent of the total sugar needs of Nigeria will be coming from Nasarawa state because the Dangote Sugar farm on 60, 000 hectares of land will start production by 2023. He said that would take care of 30 per cent of the total sugar needs of Nigeria.
“For the Flour Mills of Nigeria in the Toto area, they will also produce 10 per cent of the total sugar needs. So 10 per cent plus 30 per cent gives us 40 per cent from Nasarawa State alone,” he said.
Unarguably, Governor Sule’s dream of transforming Nasarawa into a key investor’s hub is visionary. Good enough, the taciturn governor has pursued this dream with a tenacity that has left many, including his arch-political rivals, awed.
It is clear that Governor Sule came in fully prepared. With an economic template that has become a reference document to others, he hit the ground running, and armed with his public sector experience as one of the brains behind the success of the country’s leading business conglomerates, the Dangote Group, he has opened Nasarawa to investors.
Reflectively, the ongoing transformation which is increasingly positioning the state out as a leading economy, derives its foundation from the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS) document which encapsulates enduring systems and business models that will tackle the root causes of poverty in the state.
It may be recalled that the NEDS was launched at the onset of Gov Sule’s administration in 2019.
In drafting the NEDS document, Governor Sule assembled 15 thoroughbred global economic players and conscripted them into a think tank called the Nasarawa State Economic and Investment Advisory Council (NSEIAC).
He tasked them to bring to bear, their wealth of experiences and ginger the implementation of NEDS as a pathway to unlocking all constraints which might have hitherto hindered the inflow of investments into Nasarawa.
When he presented a copy of the NEDS document to the United Nations (UN) Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, on the sidelines of the 74th UNGA in New York, US, in September 2019, Governor Sule promised that Nasarawa would be one of the top three competitive states in Nigeria when he rounds up his first term by 2023. Barely four years later, that vision is on track to being realised as Nasarawa state continues to attract different investors.
For emphasis, the NEDS document, which defines the governor’s development blueprint, led to the establishment of the Nasarawa Investment Development Agency (NASIDA).
NASIDA’s chief executive officer (CEO), Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi, told journalists in Lafia in February 2022, that over $500m worth of investments had been attracted into the state since the agency came on stream in 2019, and later noted that between February 2022 and now, the state had experienced more inflows. The completion and recent commissioning of Pandagric Novum Farms is one such success story.
Indeed, the rush by investors to Nasarawa is because of the favourable investment climate put in place by Gov Sule through rural and urban infrastructure, which makes most part of the state accessible by a good road network.
The state government has accorded topmost priority to security by making the state unfavourable for criminal elements, forcing them to retreat elsewhere, thereby giving investors leeway to operate. Governor Sule has also ensured that he upholds his end of any deal put forward by investing companies by removing all encumbrances that may stall their operations.
In the federal government’s investment drive, Governor Sule has become a beautiful bride and worthy representative to the world. Moreover, within the next few years, the state and country will feel more impact of this transformation.
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