Green Imperative project hailed by VP Shettima as a transformative \$1bn Nigeria-Brazil partnership to drive mechanised farming and food security in Nigeria

Green Imperative project has been hailed by Vice President Kashim Shettima as a milestone in Nigeria’s renewed bilateral partnership with Brazil, during the second Nigeria-Brazil Strategic Dialogue Mechanism held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

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The \$1 billion agricultural initiative is expected to transform Nigeria’s mechanised farming sector, generate employment, and enhance national food security.

Speaking during the opening session, Shettima described the alliance between the two nations as one built not on proximity but on shared democratic values and mutual potential.

“Brazil and Nigeria are not bound by geography, but by a shared dream. Two large, diverse democracies. Two economies with immense natural and human capital. Two nations with the right to dream and the ability to build,” he said.

The **Green Imperative project**, jointly developed by Nigeria and Brazil, will deliver farming equipment, training centres, and service hubs across the country. Shettima said it is a key part of Nigeria’s agricultural transformation plan.

“This project will create jobs, raise productivity, and help secure Nigeria’s ambition to feed itself and others. The Green Imperative is a flagship of this partnership, and one we are determined to deliver.”

He reaffirmed the Tinubu administration’s resolve to implement reforms that restore investor confidence and drive long-term growth. “Fuel subsidies have been removed.

The exchange rate has been unified. A new business facilitation regime has come into force. These decisions are not without cost, but they are restoring credibility to our markets and discipline to public finance,” Shettima noted.

The Vice President outlined Nigeria’s ambition to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2030, with strategic reforms in agriculture, energy, education, and public finance. He invited Brazil to partner in areas such as biofuels, renewable energy, and climate action.

The session produced seven signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs), including agreements on defence cooperation, energy, counter-narcotics, audiovisual exchange, tourism, and livestock. Among them was an Addendum to the Strategic Dialogue Mechanism, reaffirming the framework for deepening cooperation.

Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin praised the growing partnership. “It is with great satisfaction that we witness the important results achieved in several fronts of cooperation,” he said, adding that Nigeria’s participation in Brazil’s food security initiatives signals meaningful progress. He also invited Nigeria to join COP30 in Belém, highlighting Brazil’s global role in the green economy.

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, described the dialogue as the dawn of a new era, grounded in decades of diplomatic friendship and growing people-to-people ties.

Other key ministers echoed calls for enhanced cooperation in defence and food security, pointing to the strategic dialogue as a credible path to peace, prosperity, and sustainable development.

Vice President Shettima urged both nations to move beyond ceremonial agreements and focus on tangible outcomes. “Let this Strategic Dialogue Mechanism not be remembered as a formal reunion, but as a decisive pivot—from aspiration to execution, from promise to proof,” he concluded.

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The high-level event drew ministers from trade, innovation, culture, power, health, livestock, and agriculture, along with several Nigerian state governors—demonstrating a whole-of-government commitment to the Green Imperative and broader Nigeria–Brazil ties.