{"id":123565,"date":"2025-11-04T10:29:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=123565"},"modified":"2025-11-04T10:29:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T09:29:49","slug":"fg-targets-rural-growth-jobs-with-500m-world-bank-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/fg-targets-rural-growth-jobs-with-500m-world-bank-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"FG Targets Rural Growth, Jobs With $500m World Bank Loan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eBy Daniel Adaji<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eThe Federal Government says the $500 million loan facility secured from the World Bank will accelerate agricultural development, strengthen rural economies, and create jobs across Nigeria.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eThe facility aligns with President Bola Tinubu\u2019s Renewed Hope Agenda on food security and economic diversification, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eIn 2024, Nigeria secured a $500 million loan from the World Bank to boost livestock production, commercialisation, and resilience under the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES).<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eThe initiative spans 2022 to 2028 and seeks to improve animal health systems, market access, and the livelihoods of pastoral communities. The loan, approved in 2021, is supported by an additional $46 million counterpart funding over six years to enhance food security efforts nationwide.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eHead of Information at the ministry, Ezeaja Ikemefuna, disclosed the details in a statement on Tuesday. He said the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, shared updates during a meeting with a World Bank delegation led by Hardwick Ichale, Head of Agriculture Value Chains for Growth (AGROW Project), in Abuja.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eKyari explained that the investment will drive large-scale transformations in Nigeria\u2019s agriculture ecosystem. He said the World Bank&#8217;s $14 billion six-year Agri-Connect initiative would address \u201clong-standing gaps in smallholder farming by improving connectivity across the entire agricultural value chain.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eAccording to the minister, the programme aims to boost linkages between farmers, processors, markets, and financial systems. This includes expanding agro-processing capacity and enhancing the livelihoods of rural communities.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eHe further disclosed that the initiative will support farmer aggregation, market linkages, and integration of micro, small, and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs) into strategic agricultural value chains.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eKyari underscored the need for transparent governance and strong participation from stakeholders. He emphasised \u201corganised farmer participation, transparency, and effective oversight to guarantee accountability and maximise impact.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eThe minister reaffirmed that the intervention aligns with national priorities on food security, rural industrialisation, and the creation of jobs for young people and women.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eHe added that Agri-Connect would complement existing programmes, including the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), aimed at catalysing rural agro-industrial development.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eIn his remarks, World Bank representative Hardwick Ichale said the AGROW Project would help unlock Nigeria\u2019s agribusiness potential and widen economic participation. He said it will bring \u201cjob creation for youths and women, inclusivity and enhance productivity among others.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200eIchale noted that the initiative will target key value chains such as rice, maize, soybean, and cassava. \u201cThe key purpose is to enable farmers to see farming as a business,\u201d he stated.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u200e<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u200eBy Daniel Adaji \u200e \u200eThe Federal Government says the $500 million loan facility secured from the World Bank will accelerate agricultural development, strengthen rural economies, and create jobs across Nigeria.&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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