Nigeria approved borrowing of $945 million from the International Development Association, an arm of the World Bank, for irrigation and drainage projects, Minister of State for Finance, Bashir Yuguda said.
The borrowing consists of $495 million for irrigation projects in states including Kano, Sokoto and Zamfara; $250 million for urban water projects in Bauchi, Ekiti and Rivers states; and $200 million to improve drainage in Ibadan, Nigeria’s third-biggest city.
The loan, repayable in 20 years, comes at an interest rate of 1.25 percent and a service cost of 0.75 percent, Yuguda told reporters yesterday in the capital, Abuja. With irrigation Nigeria will have capacity for a “year-out year-in farming season,” he said.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, is seeking to expand agricultural output to reduce dependence on oil exports, which account for more than 70 percent of government revenue. Agriculture, which employs more than 60 percent of the population, represents about 22 percent of the gross domestic product, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
I am an Agricultural engineer, but to be Fair enough, Nigerian government has no plan or agenda for agriculture.
ReplyDeleteGEJ all this your re-election strategy will not work but you saw all this date before today you want to use fluke and nosediving project to buy all APC control state people called Amechi different that his a noise maker now it clear to you that u've done nothing to improve Rivers state, you will fail with big margin come 2015, the boko harram created to score political phare is not working as planned. lets wait and see who is fooling who ur tactics used in 2011 cant work for you this time, your shoeless has became planefulouse patiently we await 2015 election to come
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