GUARDIAN UPDATE

December 27, 2007

Enugu, four others for N3.78b agric loan

Enugu and four other states will benefit from a $300 million (N3.78 billion) loan in 2008 for the development of commercial agriculture. The loan is being packaged by the World Bank, the Federal Government and the benefiting states. Enugu State Commissioner for Agriculture, Prof. Hillary Edeoga, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu, named the beneficiaries to include Cross River, Lagos, Kaduna and Kano states. Edeoga said the state government had approved its N78 million counterpart funding for the project. He said under the programme, the state was to concentrate on fruit trees and poultry. The Commissioner said Cross River would focus on cocoa and oil palm production, while Lagos State would concentrate on poultry and aqua-culture. Edeoga added that Kano and Kaduna states were to focus on rice, fruit trees and dairy production. The Commissioner said the five states would contribute more than $135 million (N1.7 billion), while the Federal Government would contribute $35 million (N441 million). The World Bank, Edeoga added, would contribute $100 million (N1.26 billion).