By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The African Development Bank has disclosed that it has earmarked the sum of $520m for Nigeria to set up special agro industrial processing zones in the country.
The President of the AfDB, Akinwumi Adesina, made this disclosure after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu on the sidelines of the New Global Financing Pact summit hosted by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris, France.
Adesina also saidthe Bank will support Tinubu in his efforts and vision in improving power sectors in Nigeria.
The AfDB boss said it was a great opportunity for him to see Tinubu, personally commend him for the thoughts and ideas he has brought to the summit in Paris, and also discuss so many things.
“I discussed with His Excellency the President about a couple of things, first of all, agriculture, to see what we can do to support the government with regard to Mr. President’s vision in agriculture.
“We discussed special agro industrial processing zones, for which we already have about $520 million for Nigeria, and how we are going to make sure that that project actually gets accelerated.
“The other one that we talked about is the power sector, how we will bring support to his effort, his vision, and that of his government with regard to access.
“The President wants to ensure that there is access to electricity in Nigeria, and therefore he talked to us about how we can support him, and I gave him the assurance that we will significantly support the power sector in Nigeria,” Adesina said.
The AfDB boss also commended the Nigerian leader for his boldness, vision, and determination with regard to macroeconomic stability and fiscal stability for Nigeria.
According to Adesina, the removal of the fuel subsidy by Tinubu will help Nigeria significantly, adding that the forex unification will also free up access to forex and also make Nigeria’s currency much more competitive in terms of export competitiveness for the things that the country produces.
He described the recent moves by President Tinubu as the right signals being sent to investors and is liked by the international community, which will also attract a significant amount of investment into Nigeria.
