Tinubu: With Our Agricultural Programmes, Poverty, Hunger Will Become A Thing Of The Past In Nigeria

President Bola Tinubu has assured that with the adroit implementation of his agricultural programmes, food sufficiency and poverty eradication will be achieved while hunger will become a thing of the past in the country.

The President stressed his administration’s renewed focus in driving international and local investments into the livestock sector of the agricultural value-chain which he expressed confidence would end the crisis of farmer-herder clashes, eradicate hunger and poverty in Nigeria as well as promote economic prosperity.

He stated this in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the signing of a Letter of Intent between the Nigerian Government and one of the top three largest meat processing companies globally, the JBS S.A.

The Brazilian meatpacker, JBS, signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria’s government for a $2.5 billion investment plan in the African country, including the building of six new factories.

In a statement, JBS said three of the factories would deal in poultry, two in beef and one in pork.

Based on the memorandum of understanding, JBS said it will build a five-year investment plan in Nigeria, including feasibility studies, budget estimates and an action plan for local supply chain development.

On the other hand, the Nigerian government would in turn, ensure the economic, sanitary and regulatory conditions needed for the project’s viability.

Speaking on the benefit of the deal, Tinubu said: “What we are doing right now is that we are solving a problem that afflicted humanity in that part of Africa, clashes between farmers and migrating cows that have cost some life and bloodshed when there is a modern, civilised way to solve those problems and even bring a successful economy out of it.

“We are trying to turn a situation of tragedy, hopelessness into economic opportunity, see through problems and see the opportunity that is involved in it.”

Tinubu called on the company to see the considerable potential in what he called the $2.5 billion livestock investment opportunities in Nigeria, especially with its huge population and tap into it, given JBS S.A’s globally recognised expertise in the area of guaranteeing food security.

“We’ve heard so much about you in terms of the reputation, and we believe in the partnership we are forging today.

“Food security is extremely important. As we talk right now, there is hunger. However, there is huge hope. And you are one of those hopes that we are looking at.”

He told the JBS top executives that Nigeria was ready to do business with them, assuring them of good return on their investment.

Prior to his visit to Brazil, the President had inaugurated a team of Nigerian officials and private sector players to take the advantage of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Rio to conduct a study tour of Sao Paulo, Brazil and explore the opportunities in livestock development, meat processing, seed development and multiplication for key grains.

Earlier in his remarks, Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Muhktar Mahia, who led the delegation, reported to the President that the team embarked on guided, extended and intensive tours of companies on the scale of their global reach, the integrated nature of their operations as well as the deployment of advanced technology.

He added that from their interactions with various companies, JBS S.A. was chosen, being the second largest meat processing company in the world with the capacity to process 33,000 cattle daily and over eight million birds daily, using advanced zero-waste practices. The company employs over 200,000 people across its subsidiaries in more than 50 countries in the world including United States, Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia among others.

On his part, founder and President of the JBS group, Wesley Batista, said the company is the largest employer of labour in Brazil with over $79 billion dollars revenue already in 2024.

According to him: “We are glad to work with Nigeria to work together to develop the livestock industry there. We think it’s a good opportunity for our business in Nigeria and Africa as we believe Nigeria can be the centre of supply of protein to many countries in Africa.  We look forward to working with you. We are almost in December and this year is almost gone. We hope to be in Nigeria as soon as possible.”

Deji Elumoye and Olawale Ajimotokan 

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