FG Assures  Nigerians on Equitable Agric Transformation, Says North East Not Sidelined from SAPZ Scheme

James Emejo in Abuja

Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, had assured the North-East, and Nigerians in general, that the current administration remained committed to equitable agricultural transformation across the country.
The minister emphasised that the federal government’s Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) programmes are meant for all Nigerians, assuring that “each and every state of the federation will be brought on board”.

Kyari’s assurances came against the backdrop of recent  concerns by the members of the National Assembly Caucus of the North-East, that the region had been completely excluded from the
SAPZ programme.
Speaking at a media briefing  over the weekend in Abuja, the minister said the federal government will continue to “listen, and we’ve heard the statements of the representatives of the North East and we assure you all that the SAPZ programme is for all Nigerians”.

 He said, “From the plains of the North-East to the riverine belts of the South-South, and from the cocoa-rich soils of the South-West to the food baskets of the North-Central, our agenda is one of shared prosperity, food security, and national development as envisioned by the Renewed Hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Kyari added that the Green Imperative Project (GIP) which was recently signed by the current administration remained another landmark programme that would deliver services to all states of the federation with planned agricultural mechanization service centres across the 774 Local Government Areas.

While faulting the National Assembly caucus stance in the issue, the minister said, “On April the 8, we commenced the groundbreaking ceremony for the Design-Build-and Operate of the Kaduna Agro-Industrial Hub, and the Cross River Agro-Industrial Hub on the 10th of April 2025, which was the reference point for their worry and concern. But how did we get to this point of doing a representative signpost of a milestone in the project?
“We are glad that they acknowledged the very innovative nature of the SAPZ as a groundbreaking change in the agricultural development agenda and priority of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“The SAPZ programme was launched in 2022 based on its conceptual design of Phase 1 in 2019. This project is a federal government enabled initiative with subscription by the State Governments of the Federation.”
Therefore, he explained that all state governments were expected to individually express interest in the programme.
Further clarifying the selection process, Kyari stated that in 2019, each state governor was notified in writing to express interest with an attached eligibility criteria that will enable them to participate in phase 1 of the programme.

Upon receipt of their expression of interest, a joint team comprising the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Finance, and the Development Finance Institution, in this case the African Development Bank conducted a mission to each of the states to verify the fulfillment of the eligibility criteria as a selection process.

He said at this stage eight states including Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, Imo, Cross River, and FCT qualified.
However, he noted that upon assumption of office by the Tinubu administration, “We reviewed development potential of this programme under the renewed hope agenda of Mr. President and decided that no state will be left behind.
“Consequently, the Vice President’s first international mission was to Rome, Food System Summit where he galvanizes more funding to enable us take more states.

“He also embarked on a second mission to the World Food Price meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, USA where he obtained a commitment of $1 billion from the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the sole purpose of bringing on board more states.”

Therefore, the minister declared that the sweeping statement by the Caucus that “the North East was completely excluded” was not correct.
He said, “We are also confident that more States will do the needful to fulfill the eligibility criteria to enable us capture them in the second tranche funding of  Phase 2.

“I therefore also want to appeal to the legislators especially the North East NASS Caucus to appeal to the other governors of the North East namely Taraba, Yobe and Adamawa to reinvigorate their interest in the programme and to ensure they fulfil the eligibility criteria for the second phase.”

Nonetheless, Kyari clarified that SAPZ was a Subsidiary Loan Agreement Programme, where the federal government onboards the obtained loans to the state for the implementation of the programme.
He said, “Considering this is a loan, it is solely the discretion of the state to participate or not, and we have cases where states have not expressed interest.”

He said the overall policy directive of Tinubu was that all states must be brought on board, though in phases.
Kyari said, “We are convinced that as other states see the actuality of this project, they get more interested and therefore express their interest in being the first stage of being onboarded.
“Perhaps, this is the case with the North East Caucus seeing two landmark events being held back-to-back in Kaduna and Cross River States.

The Phase 2 of the programme had already commenced in earnest. I have personally communicated to all the states that are not in phase 1 in writing notifying them of the program and to express interest.
“Consequently, we have received Expression of Interests from 27 States but only 10 States fully complied with the eligibility criteria which includes three States from the North-East namely Gombe Borno and Bauchi States for the first tranche of phase 2 as there will be 3 tranches of onboarding states in the phase 2.”