The Delta State government has expressed its willingness to partake in the establishment of the Special Agro-processing Zone. Governor Sheriff Oborevwori said to achieve this his administration is ready to partner with the African Development Bank, AfDB and other stakeholders
Oborevwori stated this when he received in audience a delegation of the AfDB and the federal ministry of agriculture and food security led by Chuma Ezedinma, chief agro-industrial economist, at Government House, Àsaba.
He said that Delta State was among the states in the country with the most arable lands for sustainable agriculture and food security in the country.
For instance, he said the state was blessed with arable lands for the cultivation of crops ranging from cassava, maize, yam, rice, assorted vegetables and even rubber which could be grown in commercial quantities. Besides, he said the state’s closeness to the coastal line, the Atlantic Ocean makes it good for aquaculture.
He, therefore, tried to convince the visitors that “after your assessment, you will see that we deserve it.” He said that the establishment of the special agro-processing zone was desired in the state just as he said the state is hospitable and ready to partner with them.
Ezedinma had earlier said the visit was a preparatory mission for the establishment of the second phase of the Special Agro-industrial Processing Zones programme in Nigeria. He said, “The AfDB is currently conducting what we know as a preparation mission for the establishment of the special Agricultural Processing Programme, the second phase in Nigeria.”
The official told Governor Oborevwori that “Nigeria has already obtained a loan of about 520 million US Dollars for the first phase of the programme and that is why we have a team here from the National Office of the programme.” As a matter of fact, going by the enthusiasm of the governor there is no doubt that Delta State will be in the second phase. This is because, according to Ezedinma, “The preparation of the second phase of the programme is basically to assess the readiness of the states for the second phase of the programme. We do have interest from about 27 states of the country and we are trying to see which states are ready in terms of specific criteria we have put in place.” The team got that assurance from the chief executive officer of the state. He could also use his office to ensure that other criteria are met.
So, it could be rightly said that Ezedinma got the proper audience when he also told the governor that the national office of the programme would be interested in knowing which state was ready to collaborate with the private sector in the project. He said, “Some of those criteria include the readiness of the states to involve the private sector partners to be able to support the development of the special agriculture development jobs.
“Two specific documents are very important to us at this stage of our evaluation. One is a good feasibility study of the Agro-Industrial zone that we are looking at. The second is the environmental social impact assessment studies. “These two documents are fundamental for the bank to be able to assess the readiness of the state concerning establishing the Special Agriculture Processing Jobs.” For this phase, according to Ezedinma, the team had been to thirteen states ahead of the visit to Asaba.
