The Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), Mrs Olajumoke Akinjide said that the administration has disbursed over N500 million to farmers under the agriculture loan scheme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as part of measures to boost agriculture development and food supply in the territory.
Akinjide
made this known to NaijaAgroNet during a visit by the
management team of Bank of Agriculture (BOA) led by the
Managing Director /Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Santuraki, to her office
in Abuja and stressed that Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has entered
into a public private partnership (PPP) agreement with an Israeli Firm, SEC
Equipment, to build an Agriculture Services and Training Centre in Abuja.
She
informed the BOA boss, that in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s
Agricultural Transformation Agenda, the FCTA is committed to the development of
viable agricultural entrepreneurship through provision of free technical
expertise and farm subsidies and to also make the sector attractive to youths
and women.
NaijaAgroNet noted that FCTA would
partner with the Bank of Agriculture to grow the agriculture sector and ensured
that the Agriculture Services and Training Centre, when completed and
operational, would become a one-stop agriculture centre in Nigeria.
Santuraki,
explained that the visit by the management team was to strengthen the partnership
between the bank and the FCT Administration in the areas of agricultural
financing for the benefit of farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs in the
capital territory.
“We
have noted the giant strides that the Administration is taking to build a
virile economy in FCT using agriculture as the foundation. Your effort is most
appropriate at this time in the history of Nigeria when agriculture is
occupying an important place in the Federal Government’s Transformation Agenda,”
Santuraki said.
He
explained that BOA had granted agriculture loans of over N50 billion to support
the agribusiness in the last 10 years, created 6,000 enterprises, six million
direct and indirect jobs and added that the bank is in a better position to manage funds earmarked
by FCTA for agricultural development and poverty alleviation in the FCT.
Anthony Nwakaegho/GEE/NaijaAgroNet
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