The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, has commended Kaduna State Governor, Senator Uba Sani for the impressive increase in the state’s agricultural budget from N1.4 billion to N74 billion.
During a courtesy visit to the Governor at the Government House in Kaduna on Tuesday, Adesina commended Governor Sani for his dedication to transforming the agricultural sector.
The AfDB President emphasized that Kaduna is leading the way in Nigeria by being the first state to launch the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone.
‘’Kaduna’s leadership on this project reflects not just a vision for food security but a roadmap for economic prosperity and inclusive development,” Adesina said.
He further emphasized that Kaduna continues to lead the way, stating, “It is the first state to launch the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone in Nigeria. This is a great day for us all.”
Adesina also reaffirmed the AfDB’s commitment to supporting Kaduna in expanding its school feeding programs and integrating them with the new processing zones.
He promised additional support for primary health care improvements, health insurance, and infrastructure, including water, sanitation, and digitalisation.
“We are proud to partner with a government that listens, that leads with compassion, and that is open to all,” he said.
He referred to Governor Sani as “a model leader, a listener, a unifier, and above all, a doer.”
The Governor said the AfDB President was, “a blessing to Nigeria, Africa, and humanity.”
Sani praised Adesina for his transformative contributions to agriculture across the African continent.
He recalled that Adesina’s E-wallet initiative, during his tenure as Minister of Agriculture, benefited over 15 million smallholder farmers across the country, particularly in Northern Nigeria.
“The initiative aimed not only to transform agriculture but could have also addressed the problem of financial exclusion we are facing today, as it could have provided access to financial credit for our smallholder farmers.
“It could have also addressed the problem of insecurity we are facing in Northern Nigeria.
“In Kaduna, agriculture contributes about 42 per cent of our GDP and accounts for about 60 per cent of employment in the State.
“This is why we believe insecurity has hindered much of the development we could have achieved through agriculture.
“Because we believe it is one of the most important sectors to invest in, part of what we did was to increase the agricultural budget from N1.4 billion, which we inherited in 2023, to N74 billion in the current budget.
“By doing that, we became the first sub-national government to achieve the 10 per cent target of the 2014 Malabo Declaration, which set the goal of allocating 10 per cent of the budget to agriculture,” the governor added.
