The Zamfara State Government and African Export Import Bank at the weekend signed $1 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the areas of mining, agriculture, water resources and other areas.
The MoU was signed in Abuja.
President/Chairman, Board of Director, African Export Import Bank, Prof. Benedict Okey Oramah, said the bank was happy to be part of the partnership towards unlocking the abundant opportunities in the state.
He said “We had a very fruitful meeting with the delegation from Zamfara State led by the governor.
“In AFREXIM BANK we are pleased that the leadership of Zamfara State has a clear vision. They have identified clearly the strengths of their state, the opportunities and what they need to unlock these opportunities.
“They have decided to take their own destiny in their hands, which is actually the foundation of the federal structure that we operate in Nigeria, that states should do all they can to maximise the use of the resources they have for the benefit of their people, so that collectively, we can grow the economy of Nigeria to become more that it is today.
“So we are proud to be in a very serious discussion with Zamfara State in various areas. We have discussed partnership covering solid minerals where Zamfara State has significant strength.
“We are looking foreword to work with Zamfara State and our partners to further map the resources and monetise them as quickly as possible.” he said
He went on “We also discussed Resources partnership in the area of Agriculture and Water to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities presented by the system in Zamfara State, not only to generate electricity but also for Agriculture, including production of …. for export and consumption locally.
“We also discussed partnership to revive the cotton industry in Zamia State. There is no reason why Zamfara State cannot produce cotton as Republic of Benin which is now the largest producer of cotton in Africa.”
According to him, there is no reason why Zamfara State can not produce more cotton than the Burkina Fasso or Mali.
He said that everything is in Zamfara State and history is also on their side.
“We also discussed how to support Zamfara State with regards to Animal Husbandry and production of beef using modern facilities.
“We are really proud of the success that the government of Zamfara state has achieved within a very short time in resolving the security situation. What that demonstrates is that good leadership at the state levels can help us deal with the security challenges that is currently plaguing many parts of the country.
“Zamfara is a secured state, secured environment that can attract the kind of environment we are talking about.
“So, altogether, the investments we have discussed which we prioritise based on the speed of having to get them done amounts to about $1 billion.
“We will work very actively with our partners and the government to make sure that Zamfara State a shining example of what can be achieved if the government of the different states look inwards and leverage the resources they have for the betterment of their people and we believe that the commitment we have seen so far would lead to the results that all of us will be proud of.” he stated
Zamfara Zamfara State governor, Bello Matawalle, noted that the discussion was started barely two weeks ago in Dubai.
“We started this discussion just about two weeks ago when we met with some AFREXIM BANK people in Dubai with the Managing Director of Heritage Bank for which he promised to deliver our message to the bank. Within that week, he contacted him and the AFREXIM BANK Presisent decided to come to Nigeria.
“Zamfara State, as you are all aware, had so many issues before my emergence as the governor, for which reason and to limited time, just a month, God helped us to tackle some of these issues.
“Today, we can call Zamfara State as a peaceful state in Nigeria. For your information, for the first time in four weeks, there has been no report of any incident like kidnapping, killing or killing of citizens.”
He said that his administration is committed to making the state a full secured state.
“We have started that by engaging the bandits in peace, which they have accepted to lay down their arms. As at today, Mr. President, we have secured the release of over 300 people that are under captivity. The securing of the release of these people was done without any commitment; no single kobo or ransom was paid to the bandits.
“So we assure you that Zamfara State is safe for investors, they can come to the state. They can come to the state and the government is committed to making sure that everything is out in place to guarantee their security.
“We thank you for the investment of about $1 billion which can cover manufacturing, power, infrastructure, mining and Agriculture. We assure you that we have all the potentials to utilise the said funds in order to move Zamfara State forward.” he said.