We Must Develop Our Agric Sector For Self-Sufficiency, Vice President Shettima Tells Nigerian Governors

Vice President Kashim Shettima has charged Governors of the 36 states of the federation to work towards revamping the nation’s agricultural sector, with a view to reducing dependence on food imports and attaining greater food self-sufficiency.

This, according to him, is in tandem with the investments and commitment of the African Development Bank (AfDB) towards establishing Specialised Agro Processing Zones (SAPZ) across the country.

Shettima gave the charge, Thursday, during the monthly  meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) held at the State House, Abuja.

Vice President is Chairman of NEC, a statutory body that has the constitutional mandate to advise the President on the nation’s economic affairs, with the Governors of the 36 states of the federation, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Minister of Finance and other stakeholders as members.

Delivering his opening address at the meeting, Shettima said, “Our upcoming task must be rooted in recognizing the agrarian nature of our economy. We must strive for deliberate value addition in the agricultural sector, moving away from commodity exports towards job creation.

“Collaboration is vital in enabling the Specialized Agro Processing Zones (SAPZ) Programme spearheaded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in partnership with the Africa Development Bank (AfDB).

“Your Excellencies, we must develop our agricultural sector towards self-sufficiency and exporting processed agricultural products in line with the African Union’s Africa 2063 Agenda. This also aligns with AfDB’s investments and commitment to establishing the SAPZ. Collaboratively, we should harness our agricultural comparative and complementary advantages across the value chains of priority crops within the SAPZ.”

The Vice President also hinted about the possibility of engaging the private sector in tackling floods and other natural disasters, saying considering the financial implications of managing natural disasters, the government cannot do it alone.

“While urging unity as the nation’s hope, I am aware of the financial implications of managing natural disasters. We cannot tackle this alone. Innovative capital pools from the private sector can help share and mitigate fiscal and economic risks posed by such disasters. This approach has been successful in other African countries, preparing for low-probability yet highly disruptive ‘black swan’ events.

“Once again, we find ourselves bearing the weight of the nation. Since our last gathering, much has transpired, with each event punctuated by the nation’s reactions. None of us here requires a reminder of the direction we are headed or what is required to ensure that we stand together through the storm to fulfill our promises to the people. It gives me great pleasure to welcome you back, back to the 137th meeting of the National Economic Council, our engine room.”

Recalling that President Bola  Tinubu had recently highlighted eight presidential priorities for his administration, which serve as a conduit to his Renewed Hope Agenda, Shettima told the governors and other members of Council to get “involved in seeking both short-term palliative and enduring solutions to the consequences of our reforms.”

Other highlights of the meeting were an Update on Excess crude account (ECA) which stood at $473,754.57, as atvSeptember, 2023.

Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Stanley Nkwocha, in a statement explained that Stabilization stood at #37,597,965,211.43,  September,2023, while Current Balance of Natural Resources is at #144,683,136,928.25

He said there was a presentation on State Budget support facility and gave the brake down of States Outstanding Liability to include FCT 49,105,873,326.75, 36 States 49,105,873,326.75 bringing the total to 1,718,705,566,436.25

 He noted that the budget support loan was stopped in July 2023.  The decision was taken to set aside an amount from the Federation Account to take care of the balance.

NEC at the end of the November, 2023 meeting announced plans to channel at least $1.52bn in donor funds into 36 Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones across the nation, aiming to create 17.5 million jobs and support 100,000 farmers nationwide.

The first phase, which currently runs in Kano, Kaduna, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Imo, Cross River and the Federal Capital Territory, will gulp over $520m and is set to be concluded by 2028.

Twenty six states have also expressed interest in joining Phase II of the programme, where the $1bn funding from the AfDB and other partners will be channeled. The states will begin documentation for the second phase in early 2024.

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, disclosed this to newsmen 

at the end of the 137th NEC meeting.

According to him, the funds were earlier pledges by the African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, who voted $1bn to deliver SAPZs in 24 States at the Norman Borlaug International Dialogue, World Food Prize 202, in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, in late October.

This is apart from an initial $520m voted by the development partners for the same purpose.

He said: “The Vice President who attended the World Food Prize in Des Moines, Iowa, met with the president of the African Development Bank. Dr. Adesina who has already pledged $1bn to the second phase”.

Kyari noted that his ministry made a presentation to the council outlining the collaborative programme with the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Islamic Development Bank, various state governments, and private investors.

His words, “The seven states are Kano, Kaduna, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Imo and Cross River and like I said, with the FCT being the eighth partner in this programme.

“The quick wins here are that even in the stage of construction, you will have the opportunity for over 3,000 jobs.

“And at the end of the construction, opportunities will be for almost 500,000 jobs on each zone that is for each state and then also to support about 100,000 farmers.”

The Minister described the SAPZs as a cross-cutting initiative and platform to attract private sector investment, add value to Nigeria’s agro-processing, and unlock opportunities for improved food security and job creation.

He revealed that the programme, which commenced in 2022, saw the active participation of seven states and the Federal Capital Territory, even as the zones will not only serve as production sites “but also hubs for aggregation and processing of agricultural produce.”

The programme has earmarked approximately $530m for the first phase, aiming to establish clusters of agricultural production and significantly reduce post-harvest losses, the former lawmaker noted.

“For instance, Kano has keyed in to do a lot of tomatoes in this zone. And we know that tomato losses run to almost 50 to 60 per cent. It is unacceptable in today’s agricultural sector,” the Minister pointed out.

On Phase two of the programme, Kyari said: “We have already received expressions of interest from about 26 states so far. The second phase is supposed to kick in from next year. This first phase will last for five years. And the documentation for Phase Two will begin by next year.

“There are only three states (Abia, Adamawa and Yobe) that were have not expressed interest. But as we were leaving here, one (Abia State) had already signified and are working on sending the expression of interest.”

The council also acknowledged the leading role of Ogun State in the development of these zones.

Kyari said Despite Ogun’s delay in signing the Subsidiary Loan Agreement, a commitment was recently secured from the state government to sign it promptly.

To further expedite the initiative, NEC approved “the accelerated transmission of the official documents to funders by the Federal Ministry of Finance” and granted a waiver from the same ministry for the payment of performance allowance to project staff by the funders as requested by the executing agency to “avoid project implementation risks.”

The meeting also called for “a lot of enthusiasm from state governors to participate and key into” the project, which it said will drive significant economic growth through job creation and modernised agricultural practices.

NEC also approved plans to overhaul 17,000 and 774 primary and secondary healthcare centres, respectively, nationwide.

According to it, the move is in response to identified funding gaps and deteriorating healthcare metrics, as revealed by a presentation by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, to the council.

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state, who shed more light on Pate’s presentation, which highlighted the critical condition of the health sector, said, “the presentation…dissected in terms of very robust sector scan on health, from the tertiary to the primary level, looking at all the gaps, the problems and challenges of funding.”

He expressed concern with statistics showing a decline in health indices, including infant mortality rates, stating that the Tinubu-led administration aims to establish a synergy among stakeholders for deep, lasting reforms.

He, therefore, announced that the scope of the renewal of the programme intends to “service 17,000 primary health centers to be put on a threshold of viability, 774 secondary facilities, that is hospitals, in addition to some tertiary institutions.”

This comprehensive plan is designed to “make sure medicare is brought close to the majority of Nigerians,” Mohammed added.

On the source of funding,  Mohammed revealed that “suggestions were made…that we could use some taxes from communication, from airlines, as well as our taxes from the state government” to bridge the financial gaps plaguing the healthcare system.

Highlighting the critical shortage of healthcare professionals, he also pointed out the “huge problem of human capital and attrition of experts,” stressing the necessity of developing strategies to retain local talent.

The Bauchi  Governor said, “Certainly, we have a huge problem of human capital and attrition of experts and the need to develop a strategy to retain our experts to care for our health sector.

“So the presentation is a robust compact that looked at all the problems and challenges of the health sector, from financing, the human capital, from the supervisory point of view, and even on the leadership level, from the presidency to the local governments and the need for us as governors, local government even media, to put interest in the health sector.”

According to him, the Council’s resolution includes an upcoming compact agreement with the World Health Organization on December 15, 2023, where “All the governors will come and sign a compact agreement in terms of service compact.”

This, he argued, underscored the collective commitment to budgeting for and prioritising healthcare.

Mohammed said while a democratic system like Nigeria’s cannot forcefully stop the outflux of healthcare professionals to other countries in search of greener pastures, plans are underway to manage the brain drain.

He, however, urged Nigerian healthcare professionals to be a bit patriotic, citing the health minister who, he said, forewent a more lucrative position at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Innovation to serve his nation.

Said he: “I asked that question too in Cabinet and the very ingenious answer the minister gave me is that he is working very hard to make sure he establishes a compact with these European countries.

“Under Democracy, you cannot stop anybody from going. As a state. I have built over 1000 primary health centers, but I don’t have the doctors; I only have 100, as you said. But we used to have 3000, they have run away.

“We are working very hard with this compact to develop a robust conditional service or scheme of service that will make them retained. But certainly, we’re urging Nigerians to know that your home is your home. And you must sit down here and work.

“Dr. Pate left a very big job where he was earning two point something billion with Gavi to come and work with N500,000 a month. I think our doctors need to understand this and this is what we’re doing through persuasion.”

He also disclosed that plans are underway to free up regulatory hurdles to train more healthcare professionals to cover the gap.

According to him: “We are trying to make sure we produce more. We even have problems of accreditation. Some of our health facilities training health workers are given a limited number to train for which we cannot bridge the gap.

“So he (Pate) is working to make sure he opens up so we will produce more and people will go out and send back money.

“I think we should look at our comparative advantage in the development of human capital in the health sector and go aggressively as per the vision of this administration, to train more doctors and to have a clearer understanding that these doctors are ours and that we will get something back in return when they go.

“But we must have to do something to retain our doctors that are trained to treat our people. And that will require some element of patriotism.”

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

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