Kogi government on Tuesday announced that it had secured a $100 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to finance some Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) projects.

The Commissioner for Finance and Budget Planning, Asiru Idris, disclosed this in Lokoja while declaring open stakeholders meeting on environmental and social impact assessment of the proposed SAPZ and associated developments.

He said, “The project will create employment for two million people in the state and, by extension, curb poverty, reduce youth restiveness, and open doors for private investors.”

Mr Idris further disclosed that the government would acquire 280 hectares of land for the project across five local government areas (Kabba/Bunu, Okehi, Adavi, Ijumu, and Lokoja).

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Agriculture, David Apeh, said that the SAPZ project would attract infrastructures like water, road, energy, ICT, and others to the host communities.

Presenting details of the project, one of the coordinators, Bassey Uzodinma, described SAPZ as an integrated development initiative designed to concentrate on agro-processing activities within areas of high agricultural potential.

He said the aim was to boost productivity, integrate production, processing, and marketing of selected commodities.

He, however, advised that the execution of the project must comply with AfDB’s standard requirement, environmental and social safeguard.

“The project must be carried out in a way that will benefit the entire state and generations yet unborn,” he said.

(NAN)