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The Zamfara State Governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari, on Tuesday said the Chinese government had offered to open a credit line of $4.5bn for Nigeria to improve agriculture in the country. Yari disclosed this to State House correspondents after he and the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, briefed President Muhammadu Buhari on the development at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The governor said following Buhari’s visit to China, Nigerian officials engaged the Chinese government, who showed willingness to support. He said, “They are giving us a credit line of $4.5bn, which will cover the machineries and infrastructure that is rural earth dams, irrigation and the loan has a 20-year repayment term with five years’ moratorium.
“Initially, we started negotiations to drop the counterpart funding of 25 per cent, but understanding the economy of Nigeria, we negotiated to give a counterpart funding of 10 per cent, which we believe Nigeria can do and we are targeting the Natural Resources Fund for the counterpart funding.
