Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State says the state, in collaboration with Silvex International, a leading rice processing company, will launch the Nasarawa State-branded rice on December 17.

Mr Sule disclosed this at the state executive council meeting on Monday in Lafia where the product was also presented by the company.

According to the governor, the state government is partnering with the company to buy rice paddy from the state-owned farm located in Jangwa and Agwatashi, boundary between Awe and Obi Local Government Areas, to process and market it.

He said that the company would brand the processed rice as NASACCO Gold, and sold to consumers at a 10 per cent discount of the current market price of 50kg bag.

The state government had cultivated 3,300 hectares of the 10,000 hectares acquired land rice project in the areas and harvested 1.2 million bags during the 2025 farming season.

The governor disclosed that Manuel Nunes, the Governor of Benguela Province in Angola, would be in attendance at the product launch on December 17.

He noted that Mr Nunes’ visit was a follow-up to the recent partnership with Nasarawa State during his visit to Angola.

The governor also announced that the governors of the 19 Northern States have agreed to contribute N228 billion within 12 months to tackle insecurity in the region.

He explained that each of the 19 Northern States would be contributing N1 billion monthly for 12 months to be used for the purchase of purchase high-tech equipment for security agencies and support intelligence gathering.

Mr Sule also said that part of the governors’ resolution was the suspension of mining activities within the region for six months as part of security measures to carry out verification so as to allow only genuine miners to operate.

The governor assured the people of Nasarawa of his administration’s commitment to transform the state, tackle isolated security challenges and ensure that the state remained safe for people to go about their normal activities without any fear.

(NAN)