By Chesa Chesa
Vice-President Kashim Shettima has launched the $500 million Niger Delta Agricultural Investment Fund, describing it as a laudable development for a nation whose foundation was built on agrarian economy and whose soil paid its bills before the discovery of oil.
He observed that Nigeria cannot afford to take the promise of an agricultural boom for granted, noting that while nations survive on many resources, they endure because they can feed themselves.
Senator Shettima stated this on Wednesday in Abuja during the Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Summit jointly convened by the Office of the Vice President and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Agriculture, the VP pointed out, is not only the foundation of civilisation but also the first guarantee of political stability, just as he said, “Before a people raise cities, they must learn to feed them, and before a state earns the loyalty of its citizens, it must secure their daily bread.”
Underscoring the significance of agriculture to Nigeria, he said, “The groundnut pyramids of the North, the cocoa estates of the West, and the palm produce of the East and the Delta financed our earliest schools and hospitals and underwrote the young institutions of a new republic.”
VP Shettima regretted that the oil boom came with an ease that “dulled the industry of the cutlass,” teaching the country that once fed itself to, instead, “import what its own soil could grow.”
He, however, applauded the Nigerian Delta region for the Agriculture Investment Fund Initiative, saying “what makes this vision inspiring is that it arises from a region that could have rested on its oil wealth and left feeding the nation to other hands.
“The Niger Delta has instead chosen to return to an identity older than crude itself, for the palm oil of these creeks fuelled the commerce of continents long before the first barrel was drilled. It has chosen to transform this region, feed the nation, and attract the world,” he added.
Officially flagging off the Fund, the Vice President said, “This is where philosophy must give way to action. The Niger Delta Agricultural Investment Fund of 500 million dollars, which we launch today, is a commercial, returns-driven vehicle spanning the value chain, from aquaculture and palm oil to cassava, cocoa, rice, horticulture, marine resources, and livestock.
“Around it, we coordinate the commitments already pledged by the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and our private and commercial financiers.
“Above both stands the Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Council, which I am honoured to chair, with the NDDC as its Secretariat. Beneath it lies a demand-side strategy preparing bankable projects across all nine mandate states.”
Senator Shettima explained why on assumption of office in 2023 “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, placed food security among the earliest priorities” of his administration, noting that the idea was driven by the understanding that “nations that lose control of their food eventually surrender control of their future.
