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Nigeria’s agric sector gets $15 million commitment from UK

Published

5 months ago

December 13, 2023

British International Investment (BII) has finalised plans to invest $15 million in equity in Valency International, a trading house for agricultural commodities based in Singapore.

The deal, which is anticipated to close in early 2024 pending regulatory approval, is meant for the development of processing and warehousing infrastructure in Nigeria, according to a statement released by BII. According to the company, after its initial $15 million investment in two years, it has the option to invest an additional $35 million in equity in Valency.

“The support will create up to 2,800 jobs for low-income workers across the country. It will also indirectly provide market access to another 60,000 smallholder farmers and boost agricultural output and exports. The new Valency facilities, funded by BII, will strengthen partnerships with local farmers and processing centres to maximise their output and provide a more stable supply of premium-quality products,” the statement read in part.

A quarter of Nigeria’s GDP comes from agriculture, which employs over one-third of the country’s workforce and is a major contributor to the country’s economy, but food processing and manufacturing are still underdeveloped in the country’s agricultural sector.

“Crop production is the largest segment within agriculture, and it accounts for about 87.6% of the sector’s total output. BII, as the first institutional investor in Valency, will provide value-added support to the company in developing best practices in business integrity and environmental and social management systems. Both parties will work closely to improve job quality, gender inclusion, and value creation.”

Also speaking, the Head of Office and Coverage Director, Nigeria for BII, Benson Adenuga, said, “The strategic opportunity to catalyze growth in Nigeria’s food and agricultural sector should be seized and offers the chance to leverage its immense food export potential.

We are proud to deepen our commitment to food security and smallholder farmers in Nigeria while creating jobs that enable industrialization and facilitate regional and international trade. We are delighted to partner with Valency, and we look forward to the significant impact and economic development that our catalytic capital will support,” Adenuga explained.

Nigeria has 34 million hectares of arable land, of which 6.5 million are used for permanent crops and 28.6 million are for pastures and meadows. It is the world’s second-largest producer of sorghum, only surpassed by the United States, and it comes in fifth for palm oil and cocoa bean production.

Related Topics:Agric Sector Featured Nigeria

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Nigeria: Court insists Binance executive can face trial on behalf of firm

Published

20 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In an ongoing tax evasion case, a Nigerian court decided on Friday that Binance executive, Tigran Gambaryan, may go to trial on the cryptocurrency exchange’s behalf.

Binance and executives Gambaryan, a U.S. citizen and head of financial crimes compliance, and British-Kenyan national Nadeem Anjarwalla, a regional manager for Africa, face four counts of tax evasion. They are also accused of participating in specialized financial transactions without a license and laundering more than $35 million in another case.

All of them have entered not-guilty pleas on the allegations of money laundering. Following the court hearing on Friday, Binance’s attorney chose not to comment. The attorney for Gambaryan was similarly silent.

“We are deeply disappointed that Tigran Gambaryan, who has no decision-making power in the company, continues to be detained,” a Binance spokesperson said in a statement on Friday after the court hearing.

“These charges against him are completely meritless. He should be freed while discussions continue between Binance and Nigerian government officials.”

Gambaryan is still being held while Anjarwalla left the nation in March. The office of Nigeria’s security adviser has declared that it is collaborating with Interpol to pursue Anjarwalla’s detention.

After its executives were imprisoned as part of a crackdown on cryptocurrencies in February after being invited to the African nation for talks with officials, the CEO of Binance has warned Nigeria of establishing a dangerous precedent.

Nigeria’s Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has announced that Gambaryan may face prosecution on behalf of the exchange; Binance has not been accused in the tax evasion case.

According to prior statements from Gambaryan’s attorney, Gambaryan was “neither a director, partner, nor company secretary” and did not have any formal authorization from Binance to take on the accusations on the firm’s behalf.

Judge Emeka Nwite decided on Friday that Gambaryan, who is Binance’s chief financial compliance officer and was lawfully designated to represent the company in a meeting in Nigeria, should be served with the charges against Binance.

On Wednesday, Gambaryan is scheduled to appear in court and enter a plea on Binance’s behalf. On Friday, Gambaryan’s request for bail in the money laundering case was turned down. As the nation struggled with ongoing dollar shortages, cryptocurrency websites became the go-to venues for trading the Nigerian naira. Nigeria has blamed Binance for its currency problems.

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Nigerian govt denies reports it plans to borrow pension fund for infrastructure

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The Nigerian government has denied reports that it plans to borrow the N20tn pension fund to finance infrastructural projects.

In a statement made in Abuja, Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, stated that the government would abide by the laws and guidelines in place pertaining to the pension fund.

Following a two-day Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, the minister reportedly informed reporters that the government would present a plan to use local funds, including the fund, to finance infrastructure development.

Edunstated that the government does not intend to exceed these legal boundaries, emphasising that the government was committed to protecting workers’ pensions.

“It has come to my notice that stories are making the round that the Federal Government plans to illegally access the hard-earned savings and pension contributions of workers. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

“The pension industry, like most the financial industries, is highly regulated. There are rules. There are limitations about what pension money can be invested in and what it cannot be invested in.

“The Federal Government has no intention whatsoever to go beyond those limitations and go outside those bounds which are there to safeguard the pensions of workers.

“What was announced to the Federal Executive Council was that there was an ongoing initiative drawing in all the major stakeholders in the long-term saving industry, those that handle funds that are available over a long period to see how, within the regulations and the laws; these funds could be used maximally to drive investment in key growth areas,” Edun clarified.

The plan to spend the pension fund was reported and was widely criticised. The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress had earlier on Thursday urged the government to abstain from making any changes to the pension fund.

They stated, “Nigerian workers have entrusted their hard-earned savings for retirement security, not as a means for government projects. It is imperative to halt any further plans to tap into these funds, especially given the lack of transparency and accountability in past government borrowing practices.”