FG secures $163m loan from AfDB for wheat production

…60,000 hectares in Kebbi, Jigawa, are being considered for farming.

Sen. Kashim Shettima, the vice president, announced that the federal government has obtained a $163 million credit line from the African Development Bank to support wheat production.

“To enhance wheat output, we have secured a $163 million loan from the African Development Bank. When Shettima paid the Emir of Argungu, Sumaila Mohammed, a courtesy visit at his palace in Kebbi State, he announced that the project will be implemented soon.

Olusola Abiola, the Office of the Vice President’s State House Director of Information, made this known in a statement he signed late on Sunday under the heading “Tinubu will keep his word to Nigerians, VP Shettima assures during condolence visit to Kebbi.”

The VP asserted that the wheat production initiative in the states of Kebbi and Jigawa needs at least 60,000 hectares of fertile land.

We need 10,000 hectares of land in Kebbi State, he remarked, while reiterating the intention of the Tinubu administration to keep its promises, particularly in the agricultural sector. However, Jigawa State will successfully carry out the plan by cultivating 50,000 hectares of land to increase wheat production.

On behalf of President Tinubu, he also paid a condolence visit to the family of the late Islamic scholar Sheikh Abubakar Giro, expressing his regret that “the state, the nation, and West Africa had suffered a significant loss.”

In his village of Argungu, Kebbi State, Giro, a well-known priest who just passed away, has subsequently been buried according to Islamic customs.

Shettima continued, “I am here on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, who contacted me from India and told me to come to Argungu to express my condolences to the family of the revered Sheikh, the administration, and the people of Kebbi State and the north in general.

The VP went on to say that the late Sheikh Abubakar Giro was a renowned academic. He lived a simple life, worked for God, and didn’t care about material things. May God grant him eternal life and pardon his transgressions.

The late Sheikh Giro’s accomplishments were something of which the Emirate of Argungu was proud, according to the Emir of Argungu.

In addition to thanking President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima for their support, he prayed for the progress and unity of Nigeria.

Sheikh Bala Lau, the National Leader of the Izala Sect, commended President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Shettima for their display of affection as he met the Vice President on behalf of Giro’s family.

The State Governor, Dr. Nasir Idris, who was traveling with the Vice President, welcomed him at the Sir Ahmadu Bello Airport in Birnin Kebbi earlier.

Sen. Umar Tafida, the deputy governor of Kebbi State, Minister Abubakar Kyari, and other members of the Kebbi State Executive Council were also in the Vice President’s entourage.