President Muhammadu Buhari says his administration’s trade and investment policies will help the nation to diversify the economy, attract more foreign investments and speed up the country’s industrialization.
Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said Buhari stated this at the commissioning of two newly-established agro-based industries, shortly before he ended his two-day State Visit to Kano on Thursday.
President Buhari noted that the overall effect of these achievements would lead to job creation and better living conditions for citizens as promised by the governing All Progressives Congress (APC).
At the newly-built 1,200-tonne capacity solvent extraction plant of Gerawa Oil Mills Limited, the biggest oil mill plant in West Africa, located at Tokarawa Industrial Estate, the president commended the owner of the plant for taking full advantage of the prevailing investment climate in the country.
The President also commissioned and inspected Fullmark Rice Mills, the biggest rice mill in West Africa, at Kwanar Gunduwawa, Hadejia road.
While touring the facilities, Buhari expressed delight at the wholly-owned indigenous companies and assured agro-investors of his administration’s commitment to creating the right policies for agriculture to thrive.
At the solvent extraction plant of Gerawa Oil Mills, the Chairman of the company, Alhaji Isa Gerawa, commended the policies of the Buhari administration on agriculture, describing them as key to Nigeria’s exit from recession and upward attainment of food security.
The industrialist, however, appealed to Buhari to urgently address the issue of poor access to finance for farmers and agro-investors in the country.
The President, who was accompanied to Daura, his hometown by Govs. Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State and Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, was received on the border between Jigawa and Katsina States by Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State and the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Umar Farouk.
The presidential media aide revealed that the condition of the weather necessitated the president’s trip to Daura by road.