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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo delivered a speech at the reception of the Chinese investor delegation.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday in Abuja said the Federal Government is open to partnerships and initiatives that would transform Nigeria into a food basket for the world, following which it is committed to developing a thriving agro-industrial sector for the country.
He spoke when he received a delegation of Chinese investors, who are in the country at the instance of the African Development Bank to commence the processes of investing in Nigeria’s agricultural sector under an initiative known as the Agro-Industrial initiative with a focus on crop production, forestry, fishery, and livestock production.
Introducing the investors, Prof. Oyebanji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka head of the AfDB team at the meeting, said the investors, as part of the overall investment, under the initiative, plans to invest between $16bn and $25bn "over a period of four years with strong government support and private sector leadership."
According to him, the framework of the initiative is to develop a programme that leverages Nigeria's comparative advantage in key areas of agricultural production.
Nigeria, Osinbajo, told his guests, "is a place where there is a tremendous opportunity. We have the 9th largest arable land in the world and most of that is still largely untouched."
"We have a tremendous potential of being the food basket of the world but a lot of that will depend on how we are able to get high-quality inputs, seedling, and others, and how we are able to use technology especially the benefits of industrial agriculture to our advantage."
On the interest of the Chinese investors in the agro-allied sector, the VP noted that "we believe very strongly that this partnership is the one that will deliver the kind of growth, the kind of quantum leap we are looking forward to. We think that with your partnership with us, especially the agro-allied aspect of it if it works very well, we can achieve a lot."
Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo said, "this is the reason why we are engaging at this (presidential) level of government alongside the AfDB, to ensure that our investors have no trouble at all in being able to operate their businesses and do their businesses efficiently."
