Adesina hails Kaduna’s N74bn agriculture budget

• Published On: 10 April 2025 at 07:06

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank, has praised Kaduna State Governor Senator Uba Sani for significantly increasing the state's agriculture budget from N1.4 billion to N74 billion.

During a courtesy visit to Governor Sani at the Government House in Kaduna on Tuesday, Adesina praised his commitment to reforming the agriculture sector.

The AfDB President emphasised that Kaduna is paving the way in Nigeria as the first state to establish the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone.

''Kaduna's leadership on this project shows not only a vision for food security but also a blueprint for economic prosperity and inclusive development," Adesina explained.

He also emphasised that Kaduna remains in the forefront, stating, "It is the first state to launch the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone in Nigeria." This is a fantastic day for us all."

Adesina also confirmed the AfDB's commitment to helping Kaduna expand and integrate its school feeding programs with the new processing zones.

He pledged increased funding for primary health care upgrades, health insurance, and infrastructure, such as water, sanitation, and digitisation.

"We are proud to partner with a government that listens, that leads with compassion, and that is open to all," the prime minister stated.

He described Governor Sani as "a model leader, a listener, a unifier, and, above all, a doer."

The Governor described the AfDB President as "a blessing to Nigeria, Africa, and humanity."

Sani lauded Adesina's groundbreaking contributions to agriculture on the African continent.

He noted that Adesina's E-wallet scheme, which he implemented as Minister of Agriculture, benefited over 15 million smallholder farmers across the country, notably in Northern Nigeria.

"The initiative aimed not only to transform agriculture, but it could also have addressed the issue of financial exclusion that we are currently facing by providing access to financial credit for our smallholder farmers."

"It may also have tackled the insecurity issue in Northern Nigeria.

"In Kaduna, agriculture accounts for around 42% of our GDP and 60% of jobs in the state.

"This is why we believe insecurity has stifled much of the growth that agriculture could have brought about.

"Because we believe it is one of the most important areas to invest in, we increased the agricultural budget from N1.4 billion (inherited in 2023) to N74 billion in the current budget.

"By doing that, we became the first sub-national government to achieve the 10 per cent target of the 2014 Malabo Declaration, which set the goal of allocating 10 per cent of the budget to agriculture," according to the governor.