ABUJA, Nigeria, October 14, 2024 -- The African Development Bank Group
(www.AfDB.org [4]) has reached an agreement with participating Nigerian
state governments to speed up implementation of a program designed to
develop eight new agro-industrial zones in the country. The agreement
emerged from a two-day meeting in Abuja, on 7 – 8 October, attended by
senior government and bank officials and representatives of financing
partners and the private sector.

The Nigeria Special Agro Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) program,
launched in 2022, aims to create new hubs that integrate the production,
processing and distribution of targeted crops and livestock to achieve
food security, increase incomes, improve livelihoods, and support
economic diversification. By significantly reducing dependence on food
imports and boosting exports, SAPZs are expected to boost the
country’s foreign exchange reserves.

To implement the first phase of the SAPZ project in seven states and the
Federal Capital Territory, the program has mobilized $538m in
co-financing from the African Development Bank Group, the International
Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Islamic Development Bank
(IsDB) and the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the
Economy, Wale Edun who attended the meetings, said, “With inflation
coming down, the reserves growing and the exchange rate stabilizing,
success is being seen under the macroeconomic stabilization efforts of
President Bola Tinubu. That is why the SAPZ program cannot and must not
disappoint.”

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said, “The
need to align all our efforts at the federal and state levels as well as
with our development partners is germane, so that the momentum we gain
here translates into tangible outcomes for the target beneficiaries,
particularly those in rural areas where the SAPZs will have their
greatest impact.”

According to the Director General of the African Development Bank’s
Nigeria Country Department, Dr. Abdul Kamara, the meetings were aimed at
strengthening collaboration among key stakeholders, including the
private sector. Participants shared ideas and lessons learned, goals,
and agreed on practical next steps to accelerate the implementation of
Phase 1 of the program. The next phase of the programme will expand to
include other state governments.

Emphasising the urgency of overcoming delays that have dogged program
implementation, the Senior Special Adviser to the Bank President on
Industrialisation, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, said the rapid
implementation and take-off of SAPZs provides a solution to the
declining contribution of manufacturing and manufacturing exports to
Nigeria’s GDP.

The second day of the meeting featured a workshop that brought together
officials from the federal and state governments, representatives of
partner institutions, and private sector investors to discuss the
program’s financial, procurement and operational processes, as well as
an accelerated implementation plan. The federal and state governments
committed to implementing transparent and competitively driven
procurement processes, including the independent selection of vendors.

The sessions, moderated by Dr. Victor Oladokun, Senior Advisor on
Communications and Stakeholder Engagement to the president of the
African Development Bank, also provided a platform to highlight the
complementary roles of stakeholders. While governments and financing
institutions are expected to play a catalytic role, the private sector
will focus on investing in the construction and operation of the key
components of the zones: Agro Industrial Processing Hubs (AIHs) and
Agricultural Transformation Centres (ATCs).

The first phase of the Nigeria SAPZ program is expected to unlock about
$1 billion in private sector investments, benefiting an estimated 1.5
million households, including private agribusinesses, agro-processors,
smallholder farmers, agripreneurs, and agrodealers, and creating a
minimum of 400,000 direct jobs and 1.6 million indirect jobs, especially
for women and youth.