BY ABUBAKAR H. MUHAMMED, OCTOBER 27, 2021 | 12:41 PM
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration has made remarkable achievement in boosting agriculture and food production by establishing 30 rice mills and about 40 fertilizer plants in the country.
He said they have also made other giant strides in the agricultural sector so as to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on the oil sector, noting that the action had continued to yield positive result.
Buhari said this on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the opening of a three-day ‘Future Investment Initiative Summit.’
‘We introduced policies that supported investments in agriculture and food processing. We provided loans and technical support to smallholder farmers, through the Anchor Borrowers Program.
‘As a result, Nigeria today has over 40 rice mills from less than 10 in 2014. Nigeria also has over 46 active fertilizer blending plants from less than five in 2014.
‘Furthermore, in agriculture, we have reformed the process of obtaining inputs, such as fertilizer and seeds. We have several million hectares of available arable land and have embarked on the creation of Special Agriculture Processing Zones across the country. These initiatives we believe will make it easier for investors in agriculture,’ he explained.
Also on the oil sector, the president said it is undergoing a reform that would make the country more attractive to investors as well as to enhance production.
‘Two months ago, I signed the Petroleum Industry Act. The Act will serve as a catalyst to liberalize our petroleum sector. It has introduced a number of incentives, such as tax holidays, 100 per cent ownership, zero interest loans, and easy transfer of funds. In addition, we have highly skilled in-country workforce and a large domestic market,’ he said.
He told the audience that the government is able to extend more resources and effective policies in the mining sector to attract investment and opportunities to Nigerians.
Other sectors like information and communication technology, transportation and infrastructural development, among other things, the president said, have all enjoyed great attention of the government in order to reposition the economy to its desired stage.
‘In mining, we have also made several opportunities available for investors. Nigeria is a country rich in minerals from gold, iron ore, tin, zinc, cobalt, lithium, limestone, phosphate, bitumen and many others. We have made the licensing process easier and also made extensive investments in rail and transportation.
‘Infrastructure investments represent significant potential for investors in Nigeria. We have opportunities in seaports, rail, toll roads, real estate, renewable energy and many others. We have created several institutions that are available to co-invest with you in Nigeria.
‘We have the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and more recently, I approved the creation of Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria. These institutions are run as independent world-class institutions to make investments in the country and are available to co-invest with you,’ he said.
Explaining further, he said on ICT hardware development, broadband, emerging technology and software engineering, as well as digital economy in general has many potentials for investment in Nigeria, being the fastest growing sector in the country in the last two years.
‘We have recently approved the national policy on Fifth Generation (5G) network. Our aim is to attract investors in healthcare, smart cities, smart agriculture among others. The benefit of real time communication will support all other sectors of the economy,’ he said.
On October 25, 2021, the president launched e-Naira, an electronic version of Nigeria’s national currency, becoming the first African country to introduce a Central Bank digital currency.
‘We believe this and many other reforms will help us increase the number of people participating in the banking sector, make for a more efficient financial sector and help us tackle illicit flow of funds,’ president Buhari said.
Also on corruption, he said the establishment of Bank Verification Number, BVN, and Treasury Single Account, TSA, which centralized government funds was meant to further strengthen his administration’s anti-corruption drive and increase accountability and transparency in government.
‘These initiatives, coupled with our nationwide National Identification Number, NIN exercise, reinforce our efforts to tackle corruption and fraud. We believe that this should give investors a lot of comfort,’ he added.
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07 December 2021
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