Development : Niger Govt Signs MOU With Bank

By Oduyemi Odumade

The Niger State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with a Bank on sustainable development of the State.

The MOU was signed in Abuja, focusing on key sectors like Education, Health, Agriculture, Transportation, Energy, and Infrastructure, among others.

Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago signed on behalf of the State Government while the Executive Director of the Bank, Garba Mohammed, signed for the Financial Institution.

In a statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor
Bologi Ibrahim, the Governor who expresses delight with the financial institution for its readiness to partner the State government, says the state will maximize the opportunity to harness its agricultural potential.

Governor Umaru Bago observes that the state has not been able to cultivate up to 1% of its arable land and discloses that the State government intends to procure some earth moving equipment like Caterpillars, bulldozers, pale loaders graders on a long lease to prepare land for cultivation of about 4.5m hectares which is half of it cultivable land in the next 10 years.

He additionally declares that the State is in talks with Almarai, a Saudi multinational dairy company, to explore the economic potential of Alfalfa plant havens. The focus is on studying the protein content of the plant to improve seedlings for cultivation.

The Governor then directed his Deputy Chief of Staff and the Chairman, Niger Foods Limited to liaise with the Financial Institution to achieve the desired result of the collaboration.

In his remarks, the Executive Director of the Bank, Garba Mohammed, explains that the Financial Institution has created multi-million U.S dollar opportunities for Agricultural investment in the State.

He hints that an international partner has expressed willingness to invest 65 million U.S dollars to have a sugarcane plantation on five hectares of land in the State, with an estimated output of 50,000 tonnes of sugar annually, about 4,767 job opportunities, production of methanol, 40,000 tonnes of animal feeds and generation of 11 mega watts of electricity.

The Executive Director also says another development partner from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is ready to invest between 1 to 10 million U.S. dollars for the exportation of the Alfalfa plant and that 100,000 hectares would be required for the cultivation of the plant.

PR