Whereas President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, Wednesday, January 25 in Senegal, lauded the provision of $538.05m by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Islamic Development Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development for the first phase of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones for Nigeria programme, development experts say the horrible activities of yet to be checked Fulani herdsmen may frustrate the facility after all.
Speaking in his goodwill message to the Feed Africa Summit of Heads of State and Government in Dakar, Buhari averred that ‘I am pleased with the partnership approach used for Nigeria by the multilateral financing institutions, with the African Development Bank providing $210m, the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development providing $310m, and the Government of Nigeria providing $18.05m’.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed this in a statement he signed on Wednesday titled ‘How Africa can feed itself, produce surplus for export, by President Buhari.’
However, while silencing the brutal menace of herders across many states in killing farmers and taking over their lands unabated, Buhari in the statement hailed the efforts of the AfDB to launch SAPZ, saying ‘‘The Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones for Nigeria, which is in the first phase will cover seven States in the Federation.
“These very innovative public-private partnership models will help us to transform the agriculture sector much faster and use it to generate wealth.
“They will also allow our countries to develop integrated infrastructure around our agricultural processes and add value to the production of crops, livestock, and fisheries.’’
He described the SAPZs as game changers for the structural transformation of the agricultural sector and urged other African leaders to give special attention to the zones as member states develop their Food and Agriculture Delivery Compacts.
Buhari, who also called for affordable financing to support smallholder and commercial farmers, emphasizing the need for dedicated financing windows from the central banks, remained silent throughout his message on the gruesome activities of Fulani herdsmen which has led to endless existence of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in his country Nigeria.
