The Niger State Governor, Rt Hon. Mohammed Umar Bago, has said that all is set for the flag-off of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone, aimed at creating agricultural hubs and increasing food production in the state.
The airport city free zone programme, which would be the biggest in Africa, would focus on the processing of fresh farm produce such as vegetables, fruits, and dairy products and move them from the state to other states and outside the country through the zone’s ecosystem.
The Governor disclosed this on Friday at the International Airport Minna while conducting the National President of Nigeria Union of Journalists ( NUJ ), Comrade Chris Isiguzo, around the newly acquired agricultural equipment by Niger Foods at the airport, which is 99 per cent complete, with just the clean-up remaining and due for official commissioning on Monday by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu
He said the project would prevent people from consuming blood meat but frozen meat and also discourage the transportation of the cattle out of the state.
Bago said the first phase of the project would be completed in the next four years for commissioning and would provide employment and a value chain.
According to him, “ This is going to be the biggest in Africa. This is an airport-free zone. There is a special agroprocessing zone in the airport where you will have fresh vegetables, fruits, and foods leaving here for anywhere in Nigeria and abroad.
“ We are bringing about 140 kilometres of water irrigation to this place from Shiroro Dam, and these are the people that are doing it. They are from outside the country, and they are ready for the work. We are bringing 8,000 megawatts of power to the airport city project, and we are going to attract a lot of investment to Niger State.
“ There will be a power holiday for industries that want to set up here. We can give them free-zone energy. We are housing 400 hydropower dams. We subsidise 60 per cent of the total energy consumed in Nigeria.
“ So we are asking for 13.5% derivation from the federal government on the power we are generating so that our people can now benefit from what we are doing.
He lamented the devastating effect of overflow dams, which has led to the destruction of the residents’
farmlands and houses, adding that at no point has the state benefited from their hydropower dams since 1960.
The governor also promised to give free energy to any industry that is ready to set up in the free zone of the city in the form of a power holiday.
The governor, who also inspected the level of work at the airport terminal, which he said is 99 percent complete, said all is set to receive President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the flag-off of the project.
On his own part, the National President of NUJ, Comrade Isiguzo, commended the governor for the initiative, saying that the project would reduce overdependence on oil.
According to him, “If you go around the airport, you can see that it can compete with any other airport in Africa, and that shows that the government has invested so much in this airport, which is supposed to be a federal airport, but the state, through this hardworking governor, has taken it upon itself to embark on this massive work.
“ We have looked at the governor’s idea of putting in place an agro-processing zone, a free trade zone if you like, that will operate within the airport, and that is a very great idea, an initiative by the governor. This way, the consumption of red meat and blood meat would have been a thing of the past. This is a very good thing.
” Before now, we were dependent on oil; there was a need to diversify and that is what the governor has done by focusing on agriculture.”
