Vice President Kashim Shettima has reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to advancing its agricultural transformation agenda through the $1 billion Green Imperative Project, a flagship initiative executed in partnership with Brazil.
The announcement was made on Tuesday during the 2nd Nigeria-Brazil Strategic Dialogue Mechanism held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Green Imperative, which aims to deliver mechanised farming equipment, training, and technical service centres across Nigeria, is positioned as a catalyst to boost productivity, generate employment and strengthen food security.
The project represents a renewed strategic alliance between Nigeria and Brazil, built on practical cooperation and mutual benefit.
“The Green Imperative is a flagship of this partnership, and one we are determined to deliver,” Vice President Shettima said. “This project will create jobs, raise productivity and help secure Nigeria’s ambition to feed itself and others.”
Shettima underscored the importance of clear deliverables and execution timelines, calling for memoranda to translate into measurable outcomes.
“We must resist the temptation to confuse signing with solving,” he added, urging both sides to ensure the partnership moves “from aspiration to execution, from promise to proof.”
The Vice President described the strategic dialogue as a reflection of shared ambition between two emerging economies with vast human and natural capital.
“Brazil and Nigeria are not bound by geography but by a shared dream. Two large, diverse democracies. Two economies with immense natural and human capital,” Shettima noted.
He also highlighted the broader context of Nigeria’s ongoing reforms under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
“Fuel subsidies have been removed. The exchange rate has been unified. A new business facilitation regime has come into force. These decisions are restoring credibility to our markets and discipline to public finance,” he stated.
Shettima further noted that Nigeria is laying the foundation for a $1 trillion economy by 2030 through policy reforms spanning agriculture, energy, education and public finance.
He referenced Brazil’s expertise in biofuels and renewable energy as areas ripe for joint ventures and co-investments.
Brazil’s Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, echoed the importance of the bilateral partnership, citing several fronts of cooperation, including agriculture, energy transition, and food security.
He commended Nigeria’s participation in the 2nd Brazil-Africa Dialogue on Food Security held in Brasilia in May and called for continued cooperation at upcoming multilateral forums, including COP30 in Belém.
“Our partnership has been strengthened by the signing of new memoranda in agriculture and security, and by the high-level engagements between our countries,” Alckmin said.
He noted that Brazil, which hosts the world’s largest tropical forest, plays a key role in the global green and low-carbon economy and invited Nigeria to collaborate further on climate and energy transition initiatives.
The Green Imperative Project was first conceptualized to modernize Nigeria’s agricultural sector through Brazilian technology, financing, and technical support. With funding exceeding $1 billion, the program is expected to support the establishment of service centres, equipment leasing infrastructure and capacity-building programs across the federation.
Analysts view the project as a strategic shift in Nigeria’s approach to agricultural development, moving away from subsistence to commercial-scale farming.
It also signals deeper economic alignment between Africa’s largest economy and Latin America’s leading agricultural technology hub.
The strategic dialogue and the Green Imperative signal the growing importance of South-South cooperation and Nigeria’s intent to diversify its economy away from oil dependency by leveraging global expertise in critical sectors.
