Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has commended the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government over the signing of a $1.1 billion Green Imperative Project (GIP) to boost agriculture productivity and enhance private-sector investment in Nigeria.
The Governor gave the commendation during the signing of the commercial phase of the GIP 1 at Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday.
He said as the Food Basket of the Nation, Benue was the happiest among the sub-nationals to witness the signing of the agreement.
The governor assured that his administration will give full support to the success of the project, especially as his state ”does not only hold the basket but the food and its surpluses for the nation.”
Earlier in his speech during the signing ceremony, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, said the Tinubu-led administration was poised to enhance the nation’s food security and agricultural productivity.
He described the GIP initiative as one of the ways the current administration seeks to address the food security challenges the country is facing, adding that the government needed to synergize and use existing initiatives for the purpose of policy continuity, utilizing or leveraging on strategic opportunities to drive the country’s economic growth and also to enhance investor confidence.
He thanked the Minister for Agriculture, that of Finance, and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy; the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, as well as the Foreign Affairs Minister, among others for the success of the project.
Also in his remarks, the Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, Carlos Garcete, while appreciating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for bringing the long negotiation to a fruitful conclusion, said it was a great honor for Brazil to associate with the Green Imperative Project (GIP), stressing that negotiations in the past seven years with the Nigerian government, was with a view of obtaining the necessary funds from private and regional development banks to finance the project.
He described the project as one that will allow for the importation of agricultural equipment such as tractors, spare parts, and machine assemblage which will be done in Nigeria with Nigerian labour, disclosing that repairs will be carried out by Nigerian personnel who are to be trained by GIP.
The Green Imperative Project (GIP), the largest agricultural project in Africa, prioritizes the development of sustainable, low-carbon agriculture. It also aims to develop structural conditions to boost food production in Nigeria efficiently and competitively.
The MoU for the $1.1 billion GIP 1 was signed in 2018, while the $4.3 billion phase 2 of the project and the $2.5 billion JBS were signed in Brazil during President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to the country in the year 2024, all amounting to the tune of approximately $8 billion.
Credit: Tersoo Kula
