The Country Director, World Bank Nigeria Country Office, Dr Ndiame Diop, has listed factors he said would accelerate Nigeria’s agricultural productivity.
Speaking as the guest lecturer at the University of Ibadan Agricultural Economics Distinguished Personality Lecture on Tuesday, Dr. Diop said for Nigeria to enhance its agricultural productivity, enablers such as education and human capital, connectivity and security, access to reliable power, access to finance, and cross-border trading must be established.
His lecture was titled “Leveraging Agricultural Transformation for Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria: Key Considerations.”
According to him, while economic transformation cannot happen overnight, it can only occur with committed leaders and macroeconomic stability.
He disclosed that Nigeria faces a significant demographic shift, with approximately 5.5 million Nigerians entering the labour force yearly. “This rapid increase presents a unique opportunity for the country to become an essential economic driver of economic growth in Africa and globally,” he said.
He added that Nigeria’s economy needs to grow faster. “The transformation,” he said, “must accelerate the movement of workers from low-productivity, low-paying, and often informal jobs to more productive and higher-paying positions.”
Speaking at the occasion, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, commended President Bola Tinubu’s agricultural policies, noting that the sector has made significant progress under his leadership.
Bagudu explained that agriculture’s 1.76 per cent growth in Q4 2024, accounting for a 25.59 per cent contribution to the 3.84 per cent GDP, indicated that Tinubu’s policies and programmes were maturing. “Agriculture’s 1.76 per cent growth and 25.59 per cent contribution remain vital,” he said, adding, “Q4 2024 GDP results confirm we are on the right path.” The minister attributed the sector’s appreciable success to the administration’s unwavering policies, which he said prioritised augmented budgetary funding and access to finance, stimulated technological innovation and mechanisation, improved climate resilience, developed infrastructure, fostered public-private partnerships, and reinforced security.
Specifically, he pointed out that the sector benefited from increased budgetary allocations since the inception of President Tinubu’s administration, rising from N228.4 billion (1.05 per cent of the 2023 budget) to N362.94 billion (1.32 per cent of the 2024 budget) and finally to N826.5 billion (1.7 per cent of the 2025 budget).
Bagudu said the N100 billion National Agricultural Development Fund, which Tinubu established in 2023 to address financing challenges in agriculture, and the Central Bank of Nigeria’s donation of 2.15 million bags of fertiliser worth N100 billion to support farmers also enhanced the sector. He said, “Let me emphasise that the agricultural milestones of the last 23 months of the Tinubu administration are far from where we want to be.
“However, they indicate our commitment to transforming the sector. The recent establishment of a separate ministry for livestock development signifies the administration’s forward-looking approach to expanding the sector’s frontiers and serves as a game changer for the economy.”
The minister said that the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, as the statutory mechanism for coordinating national consensus, will continue encouraging institutional and multi-stakeholder synergy.
He explained that the ministry would ensure that state technical committees drive subnational-level policy coordination and monitoring, promote public-private partnerships, and mobilise resources through collaborations with agribusinesses, FAO, WFP, and others.
Bagudu called for collective action among the government, academia, private sector, and development partners to turn challenges into opportunities.
He added that through the aggressive implementation of the Renewed Hope Agenda and the National Development Plan, Nigeria would be transformed into an agricultural powerhouse that feeds its people, powers its economy, and competes globally.
Those present at the event, include the representative of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Prof. Oludayo Sonibare; the Director-General of the National Institute for Social Economics Research (NISER), Prof. Antonia Simbine; World Bank Consultant Prof. Funso Okunmadewa; and the Deputy Director-General of IITA, Dr. Kenton Dashiell.