By Bassey Udo
The Niger State government has presented the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to the Federal Government in respect of the Sustainable Integrated Productive Communities (SIPC) programme.
The presentation of the C of O is coming barely 13 days after the signing of a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to pilot the Sustainable Integrated Productive (SIPC) Programme, which integrates a mass housing, agriculture, renewable energy and enterprise development into a single, scalable framework for inclusive growth.
The MoU was signed at the Federal Ministry of Finance, Abuja, with the Ministry serving as the anchor institution, while the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) would provide strategic asset optimisation and private capital mobilisation support.
The initiative represents a concrete step towards addressing food security, affordable housing, rural stability, and job creation.
In her address at the landmark event on Thursday in Abuja, the Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, said the project was not just a housing intervention, but a settlement framework for farmers, aimed at strengthening agricultural value chains and improving livelihoods across the state.
The minister said the initiative would address challenges of insecurity in settlements, rural-urban migration, and inadequate infrastructure that continue to limit the full potential of farming communities.
“By anchoring farmers in stable communities with access to basic infrastructure, this project will enhance productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, improve security, and encourage youth participation in agriculture. Simply put, when farmers are properly settled, agriculture becomes more efficient, more attractive, and more profitable.
“Niger State remains one of Nigeria’s most agriculturally endowed states. This initiative seeks to address these challenges by providing structured, secure, and well-planned housing settlements for farmers, strategically located to support agricultural production, storage, processing, and market access,” she said.
While highlighting the strategic role MOFI plays to the success of the SIPC initiative, the minister said MOFI brings deep expertise in asset optimization, project structuring, and private capital mobilization.
“Through this collaboration, public land and assets are being transformed into productive economic instruments that deliver tangible value to citizens while reducing fiscal pressure on government.
“This project adopts an innovative financing model that blends public assets with private investment, ensuring sustainability, transparency, and shared risk. It allows the government to focus on enabling policy and oversight, while leveraging the efficiency and scale of the private sector,” she said.
Uzoka-Anite insisted that the project was not limited to agriculture alone, but also a broader attempt by the federal government to promote job security and drive sustainable development.
Sustainability, she pointed out, also remains a key priority, with integrated renewable energy solutions, including solar-powered homes and community facilities, to ensure reliable electricity, reduce energy costs, and support agro-processing and storage activities.
As these settlements are developed, she said emphasis would be placed on efficient land use, access roads, water solutions, and environmentally responsible building practices that support long-term community growth.
The MoU, she noted, sends a clear signal to the investment community that Niger State, working in alignment with the Federal Ministry of Finance and MOFI, is open for credible, well-structured, and impact-driven investment.
We invite developers, financial institutions, pension funds, real estate investors and agribusiness investors to see this project as a scalable model that can be replicated across the state and beyond,” she said.
She gave the assurance that the federal government was fully committed to providing the necessary coordination, fiscal discipline, and policy support required to ensure successful implementation of the project as the ministry would work closely with the Niger State government, MOFI, and all relevant stakeholders to ensure that “this agreement moved swiftly from signing to execution and from planning to delivery.”
In his address before presenting the C of O’s to the minister, the Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, said the project would change the face of how agriculture was done in Nigeria.
The Governor said the project would drive Nigeria’s industrialisation, adding that this would bring a revolution to Nigeria in terms of industrialization, agriculture, livestock, security, and so many other industries.
“So for any investor that wants to be engaged in this, in terms of housing, in terms of livestock, in terms of anything you want to do, land is not a problem. We are so ambitious that out of our 8.4 million hectares of land, we can cede at least 3 million hectares.
“So this will help to make this a reality, because we have invested as a government in mechanization. We are going to give every local government in Niger State 10 tractors, with two combined harvesters. And this is to assist the locals in production,” the Governor promised.
Furthermore, he said now that the government has created a livelihood, it is easier for somebody who owns a farm, either he’s doing livestock, fishery, anything he’s doing, or cropping, to be able to pay a mortgage and own a house than somebody that is just a hustler in the city. You talk about a micronutrient-fortified food.
“Your children will have vitamin A, and at their level of development, they will grow well. You know, because they are cropping good food. So all these are things that this programme is going to bring.”
In his opening remarks, the Managing Director of MOFI, Dr. Armstrong Takang, said the SIPC initiative would immensely benefit Nigerians, especially those in rural communities.
“Despite the fact that we have all of these resources, we can’t see what impact we’re getting. Despite all these initiatives, a lot of people in the rural communities are not benefiting from it. Why don’t we create a programme that allows us to convert those desolate, unproductive pieces of land and assets into productive communities, where they have a source of livelihood.
“They too can also get into the Nigerian dream, and the renewable agenda of Mr. President. They can own homes, they can afford to pay for those homes, through the activities in those communities, especially farming, whether it is crop production or livestock.
Dr Takang said the people can also send their children to school, while living in safe communities because there is security there.
“They can have access to safe and high quality water, because we have water provision. They can have access to power, like everybody else in the city. And as a result, there will be no need for people to all be fighting to go to Abuja, to go to Lagos, to go to Kano.
“They can have a decent life in their villages, in their local governments. And the Minister challenged us to engage with the governors and say which are the actual governors that we can work with. As we called five governors,” Takang said.
