AfDB to begin disbursement of $540m SAPZs fund

All is set for the African Development Bank (AfDB) to commence the disbursement of $540 million to the first phase of states in Nigeria for the development of Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs).

This is just as Vice President Kashim Shettima called for immediate action, saying it is time for the government and its development partners to walk the talk.

As part of moves by the Nigerian government and the bank to ensure food security in the country, three states are to benefit from phase one of the development of processing zones, including Oyo, Kaduna and Cross River, while others are to get theirs as soon as they are through with documentation.

Senior Special Adviser on Industrialisation to the AfDB President, Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, disclosed this on Monday when a delegation of the bank and that of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) presented their separate reports on the status of projects being executed in Nigeria to Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa.

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In another report on the visit to the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited as earlier commissioned by the vice president, the Head of Investment and Technology Promotion Office at the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Abimbola Olufore Wycliffe, told VP Shettima that the recovery plan for the company would include revitalising through rehabilitation, modernisation and expansion.

She further called for the reinvestment of profits from each SBU in ASC to reduce the burden of incremental investment on the Nigerian economy, even as she recommended the enhancement of foreign exchange earnings and contribution to local economic development in the country

In his response, Vice President Shettima called for immediate action, saying all hands must be on deck to ensure that the visions of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are delivered to the Nigerian people.