By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – THE Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari, Saturday, told members of the National Assembly Caucus of the North-East that President Bola Tinubu prioritizes inclusivity and equal treatment in the implementation of agricultural projects and programmes across the country.

Kyari made the statement during a press briefing on the heels of agitations by the Caucus saying the North-East region has been excluded from the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, SAPZ, project by the Tinubu-led administration, which the Minister debunked the statement and described it as wrong while he mentioned that agricultural projects executed by the Tinubu-led administration has not excluded any region of the country.

According to him, the Presidential Food System Coordination Council, PFSCC, is under the leadership of Vice President Kashim Shettima.

He said: “Our attention has been drawn to concerns that the North – East was excluded completely from the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) programme of the Federal Government. Considering the basic fact that this concern is coming from members of the National Assembly Caucus of the North-East, it becomes very imperative that we set the record straight because they got it all wrong. 

“First permit me to state unequivocally, that the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, has recognized the absolute need to avoid exclusion because one of the agenda is ‘Inclusivity’ to ensure that in all we do, all segments of the country and all relevant stakeholders and groupings are carried along in the design and implementation of government programmes. 

“In the Agricultural Sector, the President approved the Presidential Food System Coordination Council under the leadership of the Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima GCON with inclusion of governors from the six geopolitical zones and other critical stakeholders across the zones. 

“This is in addition to the statutory National Economic Council. The essence is to not only ensure the participation of all tiers of government but to guarantee that no State is excluded from the design and implementation of all our agricultural and food security programmes and initiatives. 

“Why did the North – East Caucus got it all wrong? On the 8th of April we commenced the groundbreaking ceremony for the Design-Build-and Operate of the Kaduna Agro-Industrial Hub, and the Cross River Agro-Industrial Hub on the 10th of April 2025, which was the reference point for their worry and concern. But how did we get to this point of doing a representative signpost of a milestone in the project.

“We are glad that they acknowledged the very innovative nature of the SAPZ as a groundbreaking change in the agricultural development agenda and priority of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR.”

According to the Minister, the SAPZ programme was launched in 2022 based on its conceptual design of Phase 1 in 2019. 

“This project is a Federal Government enabled initiative with subscription by the State Governments of the Federation. Therefore, all State Governments were expected to individually Express Interest in the program. For clarity the following steps were taken to arrive at the Program as it is today: The selection Process: In 2019, each state governor was notified in writing to express interest with an attached eligibility criteria that will enable them to participate in phase 1 of the program. Upon receipt of their expression of interest, a joint team comprising the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Finance, and the Development Finance Institution, in this case the African Development bank conducted a mission to each of the states to verify the fulfillment of the eligibility criteria as a selection process. 

“This stage got eight States that qualified namely: Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, Imo, Cross River, and FCT. However, upon the assumption of office by this administration, we reviewed development potential of this program under the renewed hope agenda of Mr. President and decided that no state will be left behind. 

“Consequently, the Vice President’s first international mission was to Rome, Food System Summit where he galvanizes more funding to enable us take more states. He also embarked on a second mission to the World Food Price meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, USA where he obtained a commitment of 1 billion USD from the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the sole purpose of bringing on board more states.

“Financing arrangement: the SAPZ is a Subsidiary Loan Agreement Programme, this means that the Federal Government onboards the obtained loans to the state for the implementation of the programme. 

“Considering this is a loan, it is solely the discretion of the state to participate or not, and we have cases where states have not expressed interest.

“Phasing of the Project: the overall policy directive of Mr. President is that all States must be brought on board. However, this will be in phases. We are convinced that as other states see the actuality of this project, they get more interested and therefore express their interest in being the first stage of being onboarded. Perhaps, this is the case with the North East Caucus seeing two landmark events being held back-to-back in Kaduna and Cross River States. The Phase 2 of the Program had already commenced in earnest. 

“I have personally communicated to all the states that are not in phase 1 in written notifying them of the program and to express interest. Consequently, we have received Expression of Interests from 27 States but only 10 States fully complied with the eligibility criteria which includes three States from the North-East namely Gombe Borno and Bauchi States for the first tranche of phase 2 as they will be 3 tranches of onboarding states in the phase 2. So, the sweeping statement by the Caucus that “the North East was completely excluded” is not correct.

“We will continue to listen; and we’ve heard the statements of the representatives of the North East and we assure you all that the SAPZ Program is for all Nigerians and each and every State of the Federation will be brought on board.”

Meanwhile, he (Kyari) appealed to the legislators, especially the North- East NASS Caucus to appeal to the other Governors of the North East namely Taraba, Yobe and Adamawa to reinvigorate their interest in the Programme and to ensure they fulfil the eligibility criteria for the second phase. 

He also added that there are massive agricultural projects and programmes ongoing in the North-East region including subsidised inputs to boost dry-season production; the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) on the Irrigate Nigeria project in Bauchi State;120 housing units and a Farmer Empowerment Centre in Adamawa State; The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project launched in collaboration with the World Bank, restoring degraded lands and enhancing climate resilience in Northern Nigeria; Deployment of electric vehicles and solar-powered infrastructure in the North-East; Soil testing laboratories in the North-East States.