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American firm-John Deere responds to VP Shettima’s investment drive, to establish tractor plant in Nigeria
A US company, John Deere has resolved to establish a tractor plant in Nigeria.
The development is one of the gains from the foreign investments drive of Vice President Kashim Shettima who has spent days in the US representing President Bola Tinubu and sealing deals meant to reposition the country’s economy.
Details of the company’s interest to invest in Nigeria’s agricultural sector were made known during a meeting between VP Shettima and top officials of John Deere led by its Vice President on Production Systems, Mr Jason Brantley.
According to a Statement Monday by Stanley Nkwocha, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Office of the Voce President, the meeting, facilitated by the Chairman of Flour Mills of Nigeria, Mr John Coumantaros, also had in attendance the Minister of Agriculture, Sen. Abubakar Kyari; the Consul General of Nigeria in New York, Ambassador Lot Egopija and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness and Productivity, Dr Kingsley Uzoma, among others.
Nkwocha said that speaking during the interaction with the investors, Vice President Shettima assured that Nigeria is committed to transforming agriculture as a pathway to tackling insecurity and improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.
“Without mechanization, you can never be truly self-sufficient in food production. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is fully committed to revitalizing the Nigerian agricultural sector. And for us to be self-sufficient in food production, three key elements are essential. First is certified seeds, then mechanization, provision of fertilizer and of course, agricultural extension services,” he noted.
The VP who spoke on the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs) project stated that “it is designed to provide the infrastructure, platform and framework for the private sector to add value to Nigeria’s agricultural produce for the domestic, regional market and for the global community.”
Assuring the investors that Nigeria is now open for partnership, Sen. Shettima said, “We are open for discussions, for conversations towards fast-tracking the whole process. My principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is very eager to see that the full potential of the Nigerian agricultural sector is realised.
“The President declared a food security emergency in August this year fundamentally anchored on the fact that we are exposed to all the volatility in the world. We are vulnerable, we are exposed. This is why we are putting in place the mechanisms towards addressing challenges in the sector and we cannot afford to do otherwise”.
Earlier, Mr Brantley spoke about the company’s proposed investment in Nigeria, assuring that the project will unlock Nigeria’s agricultural potential by creating an organised approach to tractor-clearing services for smallholder farmers across the country.
According to the John Deere top executive, the initiative to establish tractor assembly would require zero investment from the government, while credit guarantees will be needed to help make credit available at an affordable rate for interested persons or groups.
Mr Brantley expressed the company’s readiness to immediately engage relevant authorities in Nigeria, with a view to actualising the objective of establishing the assembly plant.
The legal team of suspended Kogi Central Senator, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, say they are ready with factil evidence to defend her in court.
The team received a formal summons in the case filed against her by the Federal Government at the Federal Capital Territory High Court last week.
On Friday, May 16, 2025, the Federal Government filed the suit, marked CR/297/25, over alleged defamatory remarks made during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today on April 3, 2025.
The government accused the senator of “making imputation knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation of a person”, citing Section 391 of the Penal Code, cap 89, Laws of the Federation, 1990.
Among the witnesses listed to testify during the trial were Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and a former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
Others include Asuquo Ekpenyong, a senator; Sandra Duru; Maya Iliya, investigating police officers; and Abdulhafiz Garba, investigating police officers.
However, in a statement issued Friday night by Dr. Ehiogie West-Idahosa (SAN) on behalf of the legal team, Akpoti-Uduaghan’s lawyers confirmed receipt of the formal summons and pledged to prepare all “factual and statutory defences” available to the lawmaker during trial.
“At about 2:30pm on Friday, May 23, 2025, within the premises of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, we received the information filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, containing three counts alleging that our client, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of Kogi Central, made imputations she had reason to believe would harm the reputation of Senator Godswill Akpabio, President of the 10th Senate,” the statement read.
“We received the said information on her behalf through a letter of authority duly issued and filed in the court’s registry.
“The legal team will fully prepare and present all factual and statutory defences available to our client during the trial.”
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will on Tuesday next week begin the take over of 4,794 properties in Abuja, including the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters, due to unpaid ground rent.
The PDP headquarters, currently under construction in Abuja’s Central Business District, is among the affected properties, having been revoked in March for several years of unpaid ground rent. The FCTA disclosed that 4,794 titles had been revoked for failure to pay ground rent, with some defaults dating back 43 years.
The affected properties are located in various districts, including Central Area, Garki I and II, Wuse I and II, Asokoro, Maitama, and Guzape.
The defaulters owe over N6.96 billion in ground rent. The FCTA had given a 21-day grace period for owners with debts under 10 years, which has now expired.
The FCTA officials announced that the takeover would begin on Monday, May 26, 2025, with the sealing off and restriction of access to the affected properties.
The Director of Land Administration, Chijioke Nwankwoeze emphasized that the revocations were carried out under Section 28(5)(a)(b) of the Land Use Act, which empowers the government to reclaim land when the terms of occupancy are violated.
Two people sustained serious injuries when a training aircraft crash-landed at the Ilorin International Airport on Friday.
Director of Public Affairs and Family Assistance, NSIB, Mrs Bimbo Oladeji, who disclosed this in a statement, said the incident occurred at 17:28 local time on May 23, 2025, during a simulated instrument approach on Runway 05 at Ilorin International Airport.
Oladeji said the aircraft veered off the runway and came to a stop on the grass verge, leaving the two occupants on board injured.
She stated: “Both sustained serious injuries and were swiftly evacuated to a medical facility, coordinated by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, NAMA.
“In response, the NSIB Go-Team is currently preparing to depart from Abuja to Ilorin to conduct on-site investigations. The team will secure the site, collect physical evidence, interview witnesses, and retrieve operational data to establish the cause and contributing factors of the incident.”
Quoting the Director General of the NSIB, Captain Alex Badeh Jr., she said “Our thoughts are with the injured, and we commend the swift medical and emergency response. Now, our focus is on understanding exactly what went wrong. Every investigation is an opportunity to improve safety. We are deploying our team to Ilorin to ensure that no detail is overlooked.”
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