UNGA 80: AfDB Backs Nigeria On Expansion Of Agric Zones To 24 States

Federal government has secured enhanced funding commitment from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to operationalise the second phase of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ).

SAPZ Phase 2, which is expected to scale up climate-resilient infrastructure and inclusive agro-industrial growth across an additional 24 states, expanding from the initial eight states and the FCT, is aimed at diversifying Nigeria’s mono-product economy to value-added agricultural export.

Vice President Kashim Shettima made the request last Friday in New York, United States, during a bilateral meeting with AfDB’s president, Dr Sidi Ould Tah, on the sidelines of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Justifying the country’s request, the vice president said Nigeria is the largest shareholder in AfDB and its portfolio hovers in the neighbourhood of over $10 billion.

“We urge you to further support us in the Phase 2 Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ). You assisted us with $300 million when you were in Liberia. We want to thank you, but like Oliver Twist, we are asking for more because we are poised to diversify our mono-product economy into agriculture, especially value-added agricultural export.

“And we have the potential in all the agro-ecological zones in Nigeria. From the mangrove forest swamps in the south to the Sahelian region in the far north, you can virtually grow anything. In states like Kebbi, the soil is very fertile,” he emphasised in a statement issued by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha.

Shettima added that Nigeria boasts a resourceful youth population that is development-oriented and eager to be co-opted into the workforce of the 21st Century.

The VP therefore implored the AfDB president to also look into the issue of the bank’s support for innovation-driven enterprises, instead of focusing only on MSMEs, noting that the digital space offers a vista of opportunities for Africa’s development.

“We can catalyse and accelerate the digital space in Africa. Already, out of the eight unicorns in Africa, five are from Nigeria – Moniepoint, Jumia and the rest. We want to once again reiterate that we are with you, we are for you, and we will stand by you,”  Shettima told Tah.

In his remarks, the minister of Environment, Mallam Balarabe Lawal, sought the support of the bank for the Pan African Great Green Wall Initiative, especially Nigeria’s Great Green Wall Project.

He said, “I want to appeal for the extension of your support to Nigeria’s National Agency for the Great Green Wall. The agency is responsible for containing desertification in the Sahelian part of Africa. I also want to plead that you look at what we have done so far in addressing environmental degradation in the 11 frontline states.

“We have already submitted our proposal to the Ministry of Finance on the issue of clean cooking policy, which is also directly linked to the afforestation process. It is important because it will address two issues of deforestation and health.”

For his part, the minister of Housing and Urban Development, Alhaji Ahmed Dangiwa, appealed to the AfDB boss to support the ministry in addressing the housing deficit, adding that the housing sub-sector needs substantial funding.

In his remarks, Tah said under his leadership, the bank would spare no effort to provide Nigeria with the support it deserves in terms of developing its human capital.

“My vision for the bank is not as a lending institution, but as a catalyst institution with which to mobilise resources and capital from all over the world to Africa. I hope we can really bring capital to the continent to make the transformation of our continent possible and bring value to the agricultural sector.

“This is why my four cardinal points are: mobilise large-scale capital through partnerships, reform Africa’s financial architecture, convert the continent’s demographic dividend into economic strength for job creation, and industrialise Africa by harnessing its natural resources to add value and build resilient infrastructure.

“These points form my roadmap to guide the bank’s strategy and accelerate Africa’s development, and I’m confident that with your support, the bank will be able to bring transformation to the continent,” the AfDB President said.

Earlier, Shettima held a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr Terrance Drew, where they recommitted to strengthening economic and cultural ties.

Shettima assured Drew of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s determination to rekindle friendship and brotherhood between both nations.

He said, “Going forward, we should have robust engagement and understanding. We should stand by each other. We should stand for one another. We should support each other’s interests.

“For St. Kitts and Nevis, and Nigeria, what binds us together supersedes whatever divides us. The majority of the population of the Caribbean is of African descent. A large chunk of them are English-speaking countries. Quite a number of them belong to the Commonwealth. So, the commonalities we share are so significant, but contact has been low, relative to what it ought to be.”

“So, I want to assure you that my boss is very keen on rekindling that friendship, that sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, and see to it that going forward, we should have robust engagement and understanding,” he added.

Shettima recalled that President Tinubu was in Saint Lucia earlier in the year, as part of his broader package of reaching out to Caribbean-Africans in the diaspora.

Drew, who decried the low level of trade and contact between Caribbean countries and Africa, expressed the country’s readiness to work closely with Nigeria to boost trade on the African continent.