China agrees to lend Nigeria $4.5bn for agriculture

 Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Abdulaziz Yari, Governor of Zamfara State, have said that the Chinese government has agreed to facilitate a loan of $4.5 billion (N1.4 trillion) for the Nigerian government to boost the agriculture sector.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, Ogbeh and Yari explained that the loan will enable Nigeria to purchase much needed farming tools such as tractors, bulldozers, graders and irrigation pumps, among others.

"We came to brief the President on developments following our visit to China in April last year and our negotiations on a number of issues to deal with machineries for agricultural development," Ogbeh said.
President Buhari


"We signed an agreement which engages all the states including FCT from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for the procurement of strategic machinery for rural development and agriculture; tractors, bulldozers, graders, irrigation pumps, tarsiers and so on from China.

"The Chinese were willing to supply us these things for a long term basis, 20 years credit at an interest rate of 1 percent per annum.  A committee has been working on the matter and we are close to sorting out all the small details and that is why we came to see the President,” the agric minister added.

According to Yari, the Chinese have agreed to open a credit line of $4.5 billion that will span 20 years with 5 years moratorium. "So we have now come to a stage where the President needs to come in so that he can give us a leadership role and a kind of approval of a certain level so that we can forge ahead.


"The president has given us his commitment and also asked us to engage the minister of finance, budget and national planning and the CBN to conclude and then the minister of agric will make presentation to council, then to the national assembly for final approval." 

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