Vice President Kashim Shettima has launched a $500 million Niger Delta Agricultural Investment Fund, describing it as a major step towards strengthening food security and diversifying Nigeria’s economy through agriculture….
Vice President Kashim Shettima has launched a $500 million Niger Delta Agricultural Investment Fund, describing it as a major step towards strengthening food security and diversifying Nigeria’s economy through agriculture.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Summit in Abuja, jointly organised by the Office of the Vice President and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Shettima said President Bola Tinubu had placed food security among the administration’s top priorities since assuming office in 2023.
He said, “Nations that lose control of their food eventually surrender control of their future,” adding that the President’s declaration of a state of emergency on food security in July 2023 shifted the country’s focus to increasing production, stabilising markets and improving food access.
The Vice President said the new fund would operate as a commercial, returns-driven investment vehicle covering aquaculture, palm oil, cassava, cocoa, rice, horticulture, marine resources and livestock across the Niger Delta.
“The Niger Delta Agricultural Investment Fund of 500 million dollars, which we launch today, is a commercial, returns-driven vehicle spanning the value chain,” he said, adding that it would coordinate support from development partners, including the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank and private financiers.
Shettima, who will chair the newly established Niger Delta Agricultural Development and Investment Council, praised the oil-rich region for investing in agriculture rather than depending solely on crude oil revenues.
“The Niger Delta has instead chosen to return to an identity older than crude itself… It has chosen to transform this region, feed the nation, and attract the world,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s agricultural history, the Vice President noted that before the discovery of oil, exports such as groundnuts, cocoa and palm produce financed schools, hospitals and other national institutions.
He, however, lamented that the oil boom encouraged dependence on food imports instead of local production.
He also highlighted the Federal Government’s agricultural initiatives, including the Renewed Hope Agricultural Mechanisation Programme, which aims to deploy 10,000 tractors over five years, alongside the John Deere Tractorisation Programme, the Greener Hope Project and the Green Imperative Programme.
According to him, these interventions have contributed to significant reductions in the prices of some staple food items.
Minister of Regional Development Abubakar Momoh described agriculture as central to the Tinubu administration’s economic transformation agenda, urging greater collaboration between government, the private sector and development partners to unlock the Niger Delta’s agricultural potential.
NDDC Managing Director Samuel Ogbuku said the summit marked the beginning of a long-term partnership to mobilise investments, create jobs, strengthen food security and drive economic growth across the region.
Chairman of the NDDC Governing Board, Chiedu Ebie, said the Niger Delta deserved a future built on productivity, enterprise and shared prosperity, calling for greater support for farmers through improved access to finance, technology, infrastructure and markets.