* Scheme to create 5m jobs, injects $10bn into
economy
The federal government thursday unveiled “The Green
Imperative,’’ a 10-year agricultural programme worth $1.2 billion
and targeted at creating five million jobs and injecting $10
billion into the economy.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
and his counterpart at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, yesterday gave details about the
scheme in a joint statement, they issued at a press conference in
Abuja.
The project, according to the ministers is a Nigeria-Brazil
bilateral agriculture development that will be implemented for over
a period of five to 10 years.
According to the ministers, the funding will come from the
Development Bank of Brazil (BNDES) and Deutsche Bank, with
insurance provided by Brazilian Guarantees and Fund Managements
Agency (ABGF) and the Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Export
Credit (ICIEC) of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and
coordinated by Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
‘’The Buhari administration is set to revolutionise agriculture
in Nigeria through a programme called ‘The Green Imperative, a
Nigeria-Brazil Bilateral Agriculture Development Programme. It is
the outcome of Nigeria’s decision, dating back to June 6, 2016, to
enrol in Brazil’s Government-to-Government More Food International
Programme (MFIP).
‘’Following that decision, and between June 2016 and December
2019, several high level ministerial and technical visits and
exchanges have occurred between the two countries. During one of
such visits, the Bilateral Protocol of Intention with the
government of Brazil was signed in March 2017,’’ the ministers
stated.
Explaining how the programme will revolutionise agriculture in
Nigeria, the ministers said it would lead to the reactivation of
six motor assembly plants in the six-geopolitical zones of the
country for assembling tractors and other implements, with
importation of the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts of about
5,000 tractors and numerous implements for local assembly annually
for a period of 10 years.
The federal government added that the programme will also
establish 142 agro-processing service centres for value addition,
with one centre in each senatorial district; establishment of 632
mechanisation service centres to support primary production in the
774 Local Government Areas and the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT).
They said: “This will create 774 service centres nationwide to
mechanise our farming methods and process or add value to farm
produce locally, leading to efficiency and eliminating post-harvest
losses, thereby cutting down the cost of food all year round.
“The private sector operators will operate and manage all the
service centres and the assembly plants. The programme will create
about five million jobs and inject over $10 billion into the
economy within 10 years.
‘’It will create sustainable supply chain of agricultural raw
materials for our large manufacturing companies to source locally,
thereby saving billions of US dollars in food-related forex. It
will train about 100,000 extension workers within three
years.’’
Stressing the huge benefits of the agriculture programme to the
nation, they explained that it will impact over 35 million persons
nutritionally and economically, and revitalise the country’s
research and extension service delivery through a five-year
technology-package transfer component.
The federal government said the programme’s benefits included
the transfer of technology from Brazil’s manufacturers and
institutions to Nigeria.
‘’The programme design was jointly done by Nigeria and Brazil.
The honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development set up
a high-level inter-ministerial committee for the bilateral
programme design.
‘’In the course of the programme design, the Brazilian technical
mission visited Nigeria and met with rural small-holder farmers.
The Nigerian technical team also embarked on a study tour of three
African countries: Ghana, Kenya and Senegal, where MFIP is being
implemented to study their challenges as well as their successes or
failures
‘’The Nigerian technical team has also visited the selected
assembly plants in the six geopolitical zones to determine
in-country capacity to handle the assembly of a CKD-based programme
of this magnitude,’’ the ministers stated.
They said since 2015, the Buhari administration had been working
hard to bring about irreversible change in many sectors and to
diversify the economy away from oil.
They said the many ‘’unprecedented programmes’’ embarked upon by
the administration had touched the power sector, where timelines
had been given for ending the age-long power supply problem; food
security, especially the production of rice, a national staple,
through the Anchor Borrower’s Programme; the unique Social
Intervention Programme (SIP) and the infrastructural renewal
project covering roads, bridges and rail.
The ministers said the federal government was committed to the
project because of its positive impact on the country, calling on
Nigerians to support and own it.
They explained that the money for the exercise would start
coming in the next four weeks, through appropriation by the
National Assembly.
Commenting on the sustainability of the project, Nanono said it
was a private sector-thriving project and it would be impossible
for anybody to hijack it, adding that it would attract young men
and women back to farming.
* Scheme to create 5m jobs, injects $10bn into
economy
The federal government thursday unveiled “The Green
Imperative,’’ a 10-year agricultural programme worth $1.2 billion
and targeted at creating five million jobs and injecting $10
billion into the economy.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
and his counterpart at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, yesterday gave details about the
scheme in a joint statement, they issued at a press conference in
Abuja.
The project, according to the ministers is a Nigeria-Brazil
bilateral agriculture development that will be implemented for over
a period of five to 10 years.
According to the ministers, the funding will come from the
Development Bank of Brazil (BNDES) and Deutsche Bank, with
insurance provided by Brazilian Guarantees and Fund Managements
Agency (ABGF) and the Islamic Corporation for Insurance of Export
Credit (ICIEC) of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and
coordinated by Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV).
‘’The Buhari administration is set to revolutionise agriculture
in Nigeria through a programme called ‘The Green Imperative, a
Nigeria-Brazil Bilateral Agriculture Development Programme. It is
the outcome of Nigeria’s decision, dating back to June 6, 2016, to
enrol in Brazil’s Government-to-Government More Food International
Programme (MFIP).
‘’Following that decision, and between June 2016 and December
2019, several high level ministerial and technical visits and
exchanges have occurred between the two countries. During one of
such visits, the Bilateral Protocol of Intention with the
government of Brazil was signed in March 2017,’’ the ministers
stated.
Explaining how the programme will revolutionise agriculture in
Nigeria, the ministers said it would lead to the reactivation of
six motor assembly plants in the six-geopolitical zones of the
country for assembling tractors and other implements, with
importation of the Completely Knocked Down (CKD) parts of about
5,000 tractors and numerous implements for local assembly annually
for a period of 10 years.
The federal government added that the programme will also
establish 142 agro-processing service centres for value addition,
with one centre in each senatorial district; establishment of 632
mechanisation service centres to support primary production in the
774 Local Government Areas and the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT).
They said: “This will create 774 service centres nationwide to
mechanise our farming methods and process or add value to farm
produce locally, leading to efficiency and eliminating post-harvest
losses, thereby cutting down the cost of food all year round.
“The private sector operators will operate and manage all the
service centres and the assembly plants. The programme will create
about five million jobs and inject over $10 billion into the
economy within 10 years.
‘’It will create sustainable supply chain of agricultural raw
materials for our large manufacturing companies to source locally,
thereby saving billions of US dollars in food-related forex. It
will train about 100,000 extension workers within three
years.’’
Stressing the huge benefits of the agriculture programme to the
nation, they explained that it will impact over 35 million persons
nutritionally and economically, and revitalise the country’s
research and extension service delivery through a five-year
technology-package transfer component.
The federal government said the programme’s benefits included
the transfer of technology from Brazil’s manufacturers and
institutions to Nigeria.
‘’The programme design was jointly done by Nigeria and Brazil.
The honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development set up
a high-level inter-ministerial committee for the bilateral
programme design.
‘’In the course of the programme design, the Brazilian technical
mission visited Nigeria and met with rural small-holder farmers.
The Nigerian technical team also embarked on a study tour of three
African countries: Ghana, Kenya and Senegal, where MFIP is being
implemented to study their challenges as well as their successes or
failures
‘’The Nigerian technical team has also visited the selected
assembly plants in the six geopolitical zones to determine
in-country capacity to handle the assembly of a CKD-based programme
of this magnitude,’’ the ministers stated.
They said since 2015, the Buhari administration had been working
hard to bring about irreversible change in many sectors and to
diversify the economy away from oil.
They said the many ‘’unprecedented programmes’’ embarked upon by
the administration had touched the power sector, where timelines
had been given for ending the age-long power supply problem; food
security, especially the production of rice, a national staple,
through the Anchor Borrower’s Programme; the unique Social
Intervention Programme (SIP) and the infrastructural renewal
project covering roads, bridges and rail.
The ministers said the federal government was committed to the
project because of its positive impact on the country, calling on
Nigerians to support and own it.
They explained that the money for the exercise would start
coming in the next four weeks, through appropriation by the
National Assembly.
Commenting on the sustainability of the project, Nanono said it
was a private sector-thriving project and it would be impossible
for anybody to hijack it, adding that it would attract young men
and women back to farming.