Niger attracts over $1bn Agric business investments, says Gov Bago

The Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, has disclosed that the state attracted over a billion dollars in Agric business investments since the inception of his administration in 2023.

The governor, made this known in his speech on Tuesday after bagging the Leadership Newspaper Governor of the Year award.

He stressed the need for Nigeria to be productive, saying that the country is blessed with abundant resources to feed itself and export.

Other Nigerian dignitaries who were conferred with awards of different categories at the annual conference and awards in Abuja include: President Bola Tinubu, Governors of Benue, Katsina, and Oyo States, as well as Labour Party Presidential candidate in the 2023 General Election, Peter Obi.

Bago, who received the award based on his outstanding innovative leadership style and the developmental strides of his administration in less than one year, spoke on behalf of the other recipients.

“Nigeria is blessed with abundant resources to feed itself and export. Niger State is taking a lead in terms of Agriculture as it has attracted over a billion dollar Agric business investments.

With the Agricultural Policies in Niger State, in particular, and Nigeria, in general, we will have enough food to feed and export,” Bago said.

The Governor announced a donation of N250m academic scholarship to Auwalu Salisu, a Keke Napep driver from Kano who found and returned N15 million to a citizen of Chad Republic.

“On behalf of President Ahmed Bola Tunubu, Niger state Government, APC Governors and Ministers as well as my family I announce a donation of N250 million academic scholarship to Auwalu Salisu, a Keke Napep driver from Kano who found and returned N15 million to a citizen of Chad Republic,” he said.

While applauding the honesty and exemplary decision of Auwalu Salisu, the governor noted that more of such people in the society needed to be identified and celebrated.

He promised to name one street in Minna after Auwalu Salisu.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Malagi represented the president and acknowledged that Nigeria is in a difficult moment.

He, however, assured that the country would come out of it strongly as his administration would continue to make decisions that would be of great benefit to all.

In a keynote, the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria Kingsley Moghalu, spoke on the theme, “Nigeria’s Distress Economy; Which Way Forward”, stressing that bad governance, population crisis, inadequate and unstable electricity, and lack of strategy, among others, have been the bane of Nigeria’s economy crisis.

He recommended that the Federal Government’s N20bn bond should fund a strategic project comprising railway, housing and agriculture; cut the cost of governance; respect institutions’ independence; and think structurally among others.

Punch