The African Development Bank (AfDB) has listed the gains of the establishment of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) in Nigeria, saying that they will lead the country to prosperity.
President of AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, gave the assertion yesterday at an investment forum in Abuja where Nigeria’s SAPZ was launched and witnessed by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh.
According to him, the broad objectives for the establishment of SAPZs, are, among other gains, “to raise income, eliminate unemployment, especially youth joblessness, reduce food import bill to the barest minimum and reduce prices of high-value food products.”
Adesina, represented at the forum by Prof. Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, his Special Adviser on Industrialisation, who is co-ordinating the establishment of agro-industrial processing zones and industrial policy in several African countries, stated that prosperity will be attained for Nigeria following the establishment of the SAPZs by raising productivity of agro-industry sub-sectors: agriculture, forestry, livestock and fisheries production and through value addition to these materials by way of agro-industrial processing. Read more