FG Dismisses Allegation of Regional Bias in Agro-Industrial Zones Spread

The federal government has clarified concerns raised by North-east lawmakers over claims that states in the region are not captured into the special agro-industrial processing zones (SAPZ) projects.

Minister of agriculture and food security, Abubakar Kyari, spoke in a press conference on Saturday following backlash from north-east lawmakers who alleged exclusion from the SAPZ initiative.

Kyari said the federal government had reached out to all states, including those in the north-east, to express interest in the programme.

The minister explained that the selection into phase one was based on criteria verified by a joint federal team and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

He said eight states – Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Oyo, Ogun, Imo, Cross River and the FCT – expressed interest and met the conditions for phase one of the $538 million programme.

“Upon the assumption of this administration, we review the development potential of the programme under the renewed hope agenda of Mr President and decided that no state will be left behind,” he said.

“The SAPZ is a subsidiary loan agreement programme, in considering this a lone, it is solely the discretion of the states to participate and we have cases where states have not expressed interest.”

Kyari said the launch events in Cross River and Kaduna earlier in April has motivated other states to show interest.

“We are convinced that as other states see the actuality of this project, they get more interested and therefore express their interest in being first stage of being onboarded,” the minister said.

“Perhaps this is the case with the Northeast Caucus, seeing two land bank events being held back to back in Kaduna and Cross River states. The phase two of the program had already commenced in earnest.

“I have personally, early last year in 2024, communicated to all the states that were not in phase one, in writing, notifying them of the program and to express interest.

“Consequently, we received expression of interest from 27 states, but only 10 states fully complied with the eligibility criteria.

“So the sweeping statement by the caucus that the Northeast was completely excluded is not correct.”

Kyari asked legislators to encourage other states to complete their application processes in order to benefit from upcoming tranches.