The Kogi State government secured the approval of the National Assembly to obtain a foreign loan of $100 million (N36 billion).
The state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Mr Kingsley Fanwo, confirmed this to Journalists in Lokoja on Thursday.
Àccording to him, the state needs the loan to establish a food processing zone and to modernise its agricultural processes.
“The request has been approved by the National Assembly. The project is expected to create over two million direct and indirect jobs.
“The proposed Kogi Staple Crops Zone and Agricultural Modernisation Project is set to position Kogi State and indeed Nigeria as the food corridor of Africa and an industrial hub,” Fanwo said.
Fanwo further explained that the loan facility would now be obtained from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and not the World Bank, as earlier announced.
He expressed the gratitude of the state government to the leadership and members of the National Assembly for their show of patriotism in approving the loan for the project which, he said, would redefine the future of Nigeria as a nation.
“The Kogi State Staple Crops Processing Zone and Agricultural Modernisation Project is aimed at making the state the food corridor of Africa and to also make the nation’s biofuel plan a reality,” he said.
He dismissed the reports by a section of the media that the request was “expunged” by the national assembly, saying that it was only removed from the World Bank list and added to the AfDB’s list by the national assembly.
The commissioner lauded the national assembly members from the state for their efforts, which, he said, had made it possible for the request to sail through.
