Abuja, March 18, 2025 – Nigeria and Brazil have signed a $1.1 billion Green Imperative Project (GIP) to boost agriculture productivity and enhance private-sector investment in Nigeria.
GIP is the largest agricultural project in Africa which prioritized the development of sustainable, low-carbon agriculture aims to develop structural conditions to boost food production in Nigeria in an efficient and competitive manner.
The agreement was signed in Abuja on Monday.
The Memorandum of Understanding for the $1.1 billion GIP 1 was signed in 2018, while the $4.3 billion phase 2 of the project and the $2.5 billion JBS were signed in Brazil during President Bola Tinubu’s visit to that country in 2024.
Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony, Vice President Kashim Shettima described the signing of the commercial phase of the GIP 1 as part of ongoing efforts of the current administration to enhance food security in the country.
He said the GIP would leverage strategic opportunities to drive the nation’s economic growth and boost investor confidence.
“As this administration addresses the food security challenges, we are facing and dovetails the 8-point agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, we must synergise and use existing initiatives such as the GIP for policy continuity, to utilise or leverage on strategic opportunities to drive our economic growth and also to enhance investor confidence.”
Shettima said the GIP aligned with all the policies and programmes of Tinubu’s administration, it would link small-scale farmers with all the agricultural value chains in the country.
“We have been battling with low agricultural productivity for decades, and as I have always said, entrepreneurial capitalism is embedded in the very psyche of the average Nigerian, but what our people are lacking is the wherewithal to be placed on the first ladder of development.
“This GIP is a wonderful opportunity because it seamlessly aligns with all the policies and programmes of this government. It’s a private sector-driven initiative that targets the small-scale farmer and links him up with all the agricultural value chains.
“Today, to me, is a high point of our leadership in this country. Yes, we have started seven years behind but the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. 2025 as rightly captured by His Excellency, the Brazilian Ambassador to Nigeria, is a milestone year in our journey towards food security and diversification of our nation’s economy.”
Carlos Garcete, the Ambassador of Brazil to Nigeria, said it was a great honour for Brazil to associate with the Green Imperative Project (GIP).
“Over the past seven years, there has been negotiation with the Nigerian government with a view to obtaining the necessary funds from private and regional development banks to finance this ambitious project, which is worth approximately $ 1.1 billion dollars.”
He said the project would also allow for the importation of agricultural equipment such as tractors and spare parts as well as the assembling of machines in Nigeria with Nigerian labour.
