From JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, Abuja
Nigeria and Morocco have signed eight bilateral agreements to boost fertilizer production, Bilateral Air Services Agreement and fisheries.
The King of Morocco, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, who is on three-day visit to Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari, witnessed the signing at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
President Buhari had earlier received the King after which both leaders proceeded to the National Mosque for the Jumaat prayers.
Addressing State House correspondents, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina listed the agreements to include agreement between Dangote and OCPN to develop fertilizer business, corporation agreement in strengthening the local business capacity in agricultural eco-system, agreement on the exemption of visas for diplomatic and official passport holders, Bilateral Air Services agreement between Nigeria and Morocco, agreement on marine fisheries corporation, agreement in the field of agriculture, Agreement between Moroccan Agency on Sustainable Energy and its Nigerian counterpart.
He explained that OCPN has results to show in countries where it has been working in Africa like Ethiopia where higher yield came after using its fertilizer.
Adesina said, the fertilizer will be customized “and by that we mean the fertilizer Nigeria will get will be the one that will fit our soil. Not the fertilizer that will percolate under the water table and poison the water causing other negative effects on the soil.
“More than two million tonnes of fertilizer are to be sent here in the next three years in Lekki area of Lagos before the Dangote plant goes into operation. When that plant goes into operation, there will be local capacity of up to three million tonnes of fertilizer in a year and that will create a lot of jobs and efforts will be made that it is very safe.
When this agreements that have been signed go into effect, it will save Nigeria billion of dollars annually on importation of food.
“It is a N2.8billion investment that Dangote group of companies have made in that plant which is expected to go into operation in December next year.
“It will guarantee food security encourage increased activity allowing agriculture to contribute highly to the country’s GDP”.
Jiga