By BASSEY ITA.
“Public Policies are always very important in the face of realities that we face,and I am sure the Government must be thinking about that.”– Akinwumi Adesina, President, African Development Bank.
The above submissions credited to Mr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank appreciates the sensitivity of the State and Federal Government over the biting economic reality in the country as a whole. Inflation has climaxed to about 31%, unemployment and food scarcity loom large, painting a picture of gloomy times in the nation’s history.
Government is becoming decisive against the prevailing hunger and poverty in the land.
Government Structures and Agencies are actually living up to these expectations. The political will demonstrated of the functionaries and Agencies to reverse the trend of things currently, showcases the avowed commitments of Government.
The African Development Bank is one of such structures at the continental level.
The bank has already initiated programmes and provided a pool of funding measures for regional governments to draw from, in activating their economic revampment agenda.
For instance, Adesina said his Bank,”AfDB has approved a $134million facility for Nigeria to implement an emergency food production plan.”
According to him,”Already, we have supported the cultivation of 118,000 hectares of Wheat,this season. This month (March) we will have 150,000 hectares of maize production.
” By the rainy season in May and June,we will support Nigeria to do 300,000 hectares of Rice. We will also do 300,000 hectares of maize,150,000 hectares of Cassava and 50,000 hectares of Soybeans.
The Bank Boss went further, “By the end of March, Nigeria would get out an additional one metric tons of Rice,Cassava,Maize and Soybeans.”
A $520 million funding provision is also available for what he called “Special Agro Industrial Zones” which he described as “new economic zones” which are “dedicated completely to food and agriculture,so that they have infrastructure and food processing facilities.”
Adesina stressed that the provision is made in conjunction with the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund For Agricultural Development, IFAD, are expected to commence in June with the Construction of the facilities.
Expectedly too, the AfDB Boss, stated that the project will facilitate the change of the rural economy from that of misery now to new zones of economic prosperity by changing the trend of Agriculture into real business with value chain that will truly add value by creating massive job opportunities.
In addition to that, he said ” We are already planning to launch a program for $1billion in 28 States,” and that ” together with our partners, we will build 28 more “Special Agro Industrial Processing Zones.”
Adesina summed up thus: “The point I want to make is that these structural interventions will make Agriculture more productive, efficient and competitive. It will also earn a lot of Foreign Exchange.”
The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led administration, through the Renewed Hope Agenda and the various Presidential Palliative Programmes is taking drastic measures against the monsterous poverty and hunger in the land.
Ditto for what Sen. Prince Bassey Otu is planning and putting in place in the state for the people under the social security architecture of the People First Agenda.
Incidentally, and of course, interestingly, Cross River State is considered as one of the 28 States to benefit from these Industrial Processing Zones.
The engagement of MSMEs Development Consultancy Limited to midwife the Economic Reforms Agenda, through Wealth Creation options as well as the Agricultural Development Initiative of the Sen. Prince Bassey Otu led administration in the state, all go down in history as structural intervention measures aimed at drawing from this pool of funding, for the enhancement of economic prosperity of Cross River people.
With all these goodwill and provisions earmarked, it is actually left to be seen how the people of Cross River will embrace this new trend of development, in their best interest.
With the zeal and spirited commitment of the masses, similar to what Council for Unemployed, Small Scale Business Owners of Nigeria, CUSSBON, in the state practically demonstrated during the collation of data for the just concluded NANO grants and Business Clusters Registration exercise, a new culture of Economic Prosperity would have been born in the state.
