The Federal Government is to revive 12 moribund fertiliser blending plants to bring to 23 the total number of plants that will partake in 2018 Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, PFI.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this at a briefing in Lagos, said 11 moribund plants with a combined capacity of over two million metric tonnes had been revived.
He said fertiliser production in Nigeria has been a success story with the setting up of the PFI in December 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari, adding that it was set up to deliver commercially-significant quantities of affordable and high quality fertiliser at the right time to the Nigerian farmer.
He said President Buhari personally negotiated a long-term bulk purchase agreement of phosphate with the King of Morocco and his team.
Speaking on other benefits of the PFI, the minister said over six million bags of fertiliser had been sold to farmers at N5,500 per bag.
“There is now a higher patronage for the country’s rail network due to movement of raw materials and finished goods.
“Also, the bag-making sector was boosted with over 10 million packaging bags produced exclusively for PFI. 60,000 direct jobs and even a higher number of indirect jobs have been created,” he said.
