Loan: Buhari asks AFREXIM to prioritize agriculture

President Muhammadu Buhari has requested the African Export - Import Bank (AFREXIM) to align its lending schemes with the agricultural priorities of the present administration.

Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a statement, quoted Buhari as speaking Wednesday, while receiving the President of the Bank and Chairman of its Board of the Directors at the State House Abuja.

President Buhari acknowledged the fact that Nigeria was the biggest beneficiary of AFREXIM’s loans and facilities.

He, however, observed that in spite of the impressive array of lending to institutions and industries in Nigeria, Agriculture didn’t feature well and needed to be taken on board.

“Many do not appreciate how much we are doing in agriculture. The minister of agriculture and the Central Bank are doing so much. We have almost achieved complete food security coupled with the massive employment of able-bodied Nigerians, both the educated and the not so-educated. You must take interest in our agriculture,” Buhari said.

Buhari also directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, to take up the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory for the issuance without delay, of land for the regional headquarters building of the bank, and another for a proposed Centre for Medical Excellence in tertiary healthcare in the Federal Capital.

The President of the Bank, Okey Oramah, a Nigerian, reported that the bank exposure in Nigeria currently stood at about US $4 billion.