The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has said it is time for African nations to take their rightful place in the control of global resources and trade by taking advantage of the natural endowment with which the continent is blessed.
This, he noted, can only be possible if nations on the continent brace themselves and maximise the potential of the resources the region harnesses.
He, however, said that Nigeria is focused on becoming one of the industrial nations of the world.
Senator Shettima stated this on Friday in Cotonou, the Republic of Benin, when he led some Nigerian state governors on an official tour and assessment of the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ) in that neighbouring country.
He assured that as long as Bola Tinubu remains the President of Nigeria, no region would be left behind in the renewed industrialisation drive of the Nigerian leader.
According to him, the Tinubu administration, in collaboration with the subnational governments, has resolved to leave no stone unturned in massively developing Nigeria.
He expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the Beninese government to embark on mass production and export of its endowed resources.
The Nigerian Vice President regretted that “of the $370 billion worth of global cotton, Africa benefits from only about one per cent of that amount,” just as he maintained that following President Tinubu’s resolve to change the narrative, reviving Nigeria’s textile value chain could generate millions of jobs, expand non-oil exports and stimulate economic activity across the country.
Shettima, who was impressed by what he saw after going round the cotton, textile, cashew and soyabean oil production units of the giant industrial zone, assured that Nigeria will replicate some of the things he saw in Cotonou.
“We are here essentially at the behest of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the spirit of his Renewed Hope Agenda to see and do a peer review of global best practice and value addition.
“We are setting up eight agro-industrial zones in eight states in our country, and to tell you imperatively that this is an African success story where there is a whole chain of value addition in cotton, cashew and soya bean value chains.
“Be rest assured that we have learnt a lot of lessons through this visit, and we are going to replicate a lot of that in Nigeria, as we are focused on becoming one of the industrialized nations in the world, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu,” he was quoted in a statement by his media aide, Stanley Nkwocha, as saying.
On arrival, the Vice President and the governors were briefed on the zone’s structure, production capacity and investment potential by Benin’s Minister of Tourism and Foreign Trade, in charge of Industry and the Promotion of Private Investment, Mr. Olushegun Adjadi Bakari.
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The delegation inspected the zone’s integrated textile and agro-processing facilities, where locally produced cotton is converted into yarn, fabric and finished garments, while cashew and other agricultural commodities are processed for domestic and export markets.
A 1,640-hectare public-private industrial platform developed by the Beninese government and ARISE Integrated Industrial Platforms, the zone accommodates textile, garment, cashew, soybean and other manufacturing operations, while providing more than 25,000 jobs. Production at the site began in 2021.
The visit forms part of Nigeria’s effort to draw practical lessons from that neighbouring country’s success in linking agriculture with manufacturing, attracting private investment and converting raw materials into higher-value finished products.
The state governors who accompanied the Vice President on the working visit to the Benin Republic are AbdulRahman AbdulRazak (Kwara); Hope Uzodimma (Imo); Umar Namada (Jigawa); Dikko Radda (Katsina); Caleb Mutfwang (Plateau), and Dauda Lawal (Zamfara).
They all expressed their readiness to explore similar industrial projects in their respective states, noting that the opportunities for public-private partnerships, youth employment, technology transfer, and stronger linkage between farmers and manufacturers remain evident potentials.
To commemorate the visit and underscore the importance of environmentally sustainable industrial development, Vice President Shettima and the accompanying governors also planted trees within the industrial zone.
