- Our Efforts in Agriculture Not Appreciated, Buhari Laments
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday lamented that his administration’s efforts at repositioning agriculture in the country were not being appreciated.
He said this was despite the fact that the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh, and the Central Bank of Nigeria were working hard in that regard.
He, therefore, requested the African Export-Import Bank to align its lending schemes with the agricultural priorities of the present administration.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President spoke while receiving the bank’s President and Chairman of its Board of Directors, Dr. Okey Oramah, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari was said to have acknowledged the fact that Nigeria was the biggest beneficiary of AFREXIM’s loans and facilities.
He, however, observed that in spite of the impressive array of lending to institutions and industries in the country by the bank, agriculture did not feature very well and needed to be taken on board.
He said, “Many do not appreciate how much we are doing in agriculture. The Minister of Agriculture and the central bank are doing so much.
“We have almost achieved complete food security coupled with the massive employment of able-bodied Nigerians, both the educated and the not-so-educated. You must take interest in our agriculture.”
Buhari, at the meeting, also directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to liaise with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration for the issuance without delay of land for the regional headquarters building of the bank, and another for a proposed centre for medical excellence in tertiary health care in Abuja.
The proposed centre, to be established in collaboration with the Kings Hospital in London, will provide advanced treatment in Nigeria for cancer, haematology and cardiology, and pursuant to that, the creation of hundreds of jobs in the country.
The President also asked AFREXIM Bank to direct more of its resources to infrastructure funding in Nigeria.
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, also informed the meeting that there were ongoing efforts to raise Nigeria’s equity in the bank, which had dropped to sixth from the first position.
Oramah, himself a Nigerian, reported that the dilution of the country’s shareholding needed to be addressed in order to justify the pre-eminent position of the nation as a leading beneficiary of the bank.
He disclosed that the bank exposure in Nigeria currently stood at about $4bn.
AFREXIM, which is marking its 25th anniversary this year, is bringing the events to Nigeria in recognition of the pioneering role played by the country in the bank’s formation.
