The new policy thrust of the Nigerian government is what the country’s private sector has been yearning for over the years. This point was made by the Nigerian Agribusiness Group (NABG) which recently held a strategic meeting at the Multi-Trex Integrated Foods PLC complex, Warewa, Ogun state, to further conclude and outline their plans to assume the status of the main advocate for the agriculture private sector’s business interest.
Sequel to earlier group events, the meeting focused on fine-tuning the NABG’s framework in a way that will enable it effectively serve the interest of stakeholders in the Nigerian agribusiness space.
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The group which thrives on ensuring the growth of agribusiness, processors and value-chain stakeholders in the agricultural sector, recognizes that there are over 45 million people involved in farming and all other activities along the value chains but not all the 45 million people can be brought together at once, hence NABG has been set up to drive all Nigeria’s agricultural activities within and outside the country towards profitability.
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Given their significant investments into integrated agriculture and agribusiness, the NABG is expected to lead, support and advocate in favor of institutional, policy and regulatory reforms by working with the three tiers of government in Nigeria, federal, state and local governments.
Sani Dangote – who chairs the board of Dansa Agro-Allied Coy Limited, in addition to being the Vice-President of the Dangote Group – NABG’s interim chairman, said, “This group will drive inclusive market growth, representing the interests of farmers, aggregators, input providers, supply chain managers, food processing and marketing”.
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Speaking further, Dangote harped on the principles undergirding the Organisation, “we will be transparent and very clear in our objectives to grow the agricultural sector of the Nigerian economy”. “We are also going to base our decisions on investment activities and not on religious or ethnic basis”. He noted that no matter the point of interest in the agricultural value chain or the extent of involvement of the stakeholders – whether farming, processing of food, consultancy, finance, agricultural inputs production or supply, they can benefit from NABG as the Group is set to engage the government on policies that would encourage and boost agricultural activities in the country.
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Amongst other benefits of membership of the Group, Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere, Vice- Chairman and Coordinator of the Group harped on the fact that part of the objectives which the NABG will work to achieve is access to the international market for all stakeholders down to the smallest farmer.