Dr. Akinwunmi Adeshina, president of the African Development Bank, announced yesterday that three foreign financial institutions would mobilize funds for the Federal Government of Nigeria.
They are the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which will contribute $520 million to the development of the Special Agriculture Processing Zone (SAPZ) in Nigeria, and the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), which has approved $1.8 billion to finance the budget, projects, and other economic activities for the upcoming year. IsDB is led by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Prior to the SAPZ inauguration, Dr. Mohamed Suleiman Aljasser, President and Chairman of IsDB, visited Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, in Abuja and made the $1.8 billion announcement.
The Islamic Corporation for the Development (ICD), “our private sector affiliate,” provided $288 million of the facility’s $971 million budget finance, according to the IsDB chief who presented a summary of how the financing was carried out.
He claimed that $477 million from the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), plus $90 million from other Islamic Development Bank funding and operations, were directed to trade operations.
We are engaged in other areas like education and health and we are looking forward to entering the food sector as there is a $10billion facility Nigeria can benefit from, according to Adesina.
He noted that out of the bank’s active $1.2 billion portfolio, 35% of the projects it was intended to support had been successfully completed.
According to him, the portfolio includes projects 15 states of the federation.
Aljasser stated: ““The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) our investment guarantee arm has provided $1.1billion as business insured and another $1billion as a new insurance commitment to help attract businesses and insure them.
“The IsDB is keen to continue to engage Nigeria on its strategic priorities areas such as economic and social infrastructure, and advisory support for strengthening Islamic financial services.”
Additionally, he reaffirmed the bank’s commitment to helping Nigeria deal with the COVID-19 recovery phase, notably by supporting the private sector in its efforts to spur economic growth.
He stated during his discussion of the SAPZ that 190 kilometers of rural roads would be built to benefit small and medium-sized farmers.
He urged the finance minister to make it easier for the bank to obtain land so it could construct a suitable structure that would house its regional office for Africa.
Nigeria is the largest office outside of the bank’s head office in Jedda; as a result, Aljasser remarked, “will need a piece of land to build a permanent office in Abuja.”
The SAPZ is a complete value chain programme that will be implemented in Cross River, Imo, Kano, Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), according to Mrs. Zainab Ahmed .
The Special Agriculture Processing Zones (SAPZs) were Adeshina’s idea, and she detailed how Nigerian Minister of Agriculture was able to overcome the challenge of the 2012 flooding.
The AfDB president stated: “I had to deal with the worst floods in Nigeria when I was minister of Agriculture. We responded very fast, launched the nation’s first dry season farming programme, and produced so much food in the dry season. We turned the flood into a new opportunity and Nigeria avoided a food crisis.
“Floods may wash away some land and harvests, but we must not let the hopes of farmers be washed away.”
According to Adesina, the AfDB would provide $210 million, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) $150 million, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) $160 million to the development of the SAPZs in Nigeria.
The SAZPs are new economic zones, located in rural areas, to be fully supported by infrastructure (power, water, roads, digital infrastructure, and logistics) that will allow food and agribusiness companies to locate within such zones, he explained.
“This will put them close to farmers in production catchment areas, provide market offtakes for farmers, support processing and value addition, reduce food losses, and allow the emergence of highly competitive food and agricultural value chains.
“The African Development Bank is providing $210 million for the development of the SAPZs in Nigeria. It will transform the food and agriculture sector. They will attract private agribusinesses to locate in infrastructure-enabled rural areas.
“Nineteen additional state governments have indicated interests to also establish special agro-industrial processing zones while several private sector firms, domestic and foreign, have already expressed keen interests in locating in these zones.”
“States will require competent and experienced private sector developers, facility managers and operators to complete necessary infrastructure and logistics within their respective special agro-industrial processing zones,” he added.
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One comment on “BUDGET: Nigeria will receive $1.8b from Islamic Bank”
ABBA kaka umar
October 25, 2022 at 7:20 pmI agree with this. I will take loan from this bank.