The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group says it is set to hold a 2-Day Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Inception Workshop at the Bank’s Nigeria Country Department Office, Abuja.
The Inception Workshop which is scheduled to hold between September 6 and 7 2023, is the first in the series of the Bank’s ongoing stakeholders’ engagement aimed at harvesting their input and harmonizing various interests in preparation for the commencement of the Second Phase of the SAPZ Program in Nigeria. The 20 states that have sent Expression of Interest (EOI) will be hosted and assessed and hopefully onboarded, the bank said.
In October 2022, the Federal Government and African Development Bank, alongside co-financing partners, the Islamic Development Bank and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), launched the first phase of the $538 million Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) programme in Nigeria. The first set of states under phase I of the Program (Cross River, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Ogun, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo), have satisfied all conditions for disbursement and are progressing rapidly.
As the flagship programme of the African Development Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy, the Nigeria SAPZ Program targets the twin objectives of food self-sufficiency, exports of processed raw agricultural commodities leading to job creation and overall economic growth. The strategy, according to the bank is to target agro-processing activities in areas with high agricultural potential. These Zones, a agglomeration model, will bring farmers (including livestock keepers), agricultural producers, processors, aggregators, and distributors to work together in one location, lowering transaction costs and sharing business development services to boost productivity and competitiveness.
Director General of the Bank’s Nigeria Country Department, Lamin Barow, said the inception workshop and High-level Stakeholders’ Meeting with State Governors will accelerate preparations for the eventual take-off of the SAPZ Phase II, in line with the Bank’s ongoing efforts to roll out the programme nationwide.
Barrow said, “In order to kickstart the process for the eventual take-off of Phase II of the SAPZ Program in Nigeria, the Bank will hold a 2-Day Inception Workshop on 6-7 September 2023, and a high-level Stakeholders’ Meeting with some State Governors on 08 September 2023.
“These will bring together the Federal and State Government representatives, development partners and private sector players to identify and determine commodities and high-potential value chains, sites and locations, state government readiness, private sector interest and other key enabling factors.”
Senior Special Advisor on Industrialization to President of the African Development Bank, Prof. Oyelaran-Oyeyinka Oyebanji, said the establishment of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones in Nigeria is an industrial strategy approach that is government-enabled and private sector-driven. It is designed to stimulate private sector interest, drive a market-oriented agricultural transformation and help develop modern agro-processing capacity across the continent.
According to Oyebanji, “Following the recent declaration of a state of emergency in food security by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His excellency Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the inception workshop and high-level Stakeholders’ Meeting aims to accelerate the preparations for the take-off of the SAPZ Phase 2 in line with the Bank’s ongoing efforts to roll out the programme countrywide.
“The ultimate objective is to foster structural transformation of the Nigerian economy by transforming rural poles of misery to productive zones of prosperity.
“To facilitate in-depth and robust discussions and deliberations, the AfDB SAPZ Phase II Inception Workshop with interested Nigerian states will be conducted over two days to enable us to discuss extensively and constructively and agree on the way forward for the commencement of Phase II of the SAPZ Program in Nigeria. The SAPZ will revolutionize agricultural practices and shift Nigeria from an agrarian economy to an industrial society based on agribusiness.”
The African Development Bank is developing SAPZs in 11 African countries in 24 sites. Among the projects under implementation, there is one each in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique, Madagascar, Senegal, and Togo, and four in Ethiopia. The SAPZ program in Nigeria is the largest, both in scale and scope.