Nigeria needs to go big on agriculture. It needs to copy China.

The Agricultural Development Bank of China, one of the country’s main policy lenders, agreed to loan at least 3 trillion yuan ($450 billion) by 2020 for the modernization of China’s agriculture industry, state media said on Sunday.

The Ministry of Agriculture and the bank, which lends in line with government policy, signed an agreement to protect national food security, support the sector doing business overseas and develop China’s seed industry, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

It was not immediately clear whether this commitment is separate from the bank’s plan announced in May to lend 3 trillion yuan for poverty reduction via agricultural investments.

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As part of its economic empowerment agenda, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said it has disbursed a total of N366.39 billion for the execution of 465 projects under the Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme, CACS, from 2009 to date.

This shows that funding in agriculture is moving up in Nigeria.

The Scheme, established to address the financing challenges of the entire value chain, such as production, processing, storage and marketing/distribution of agricultural produce in the country.

The Governor of CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele who disclosed this at the International Conference on Environment Dialogue on: “Diversification of Economy: The Role of Jatropha,” said the apex bank provided finance to commercial farmers at single digit interest rate.

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Source: TED

Oando PLC, an integrated oil and gas company headquartered in Nigeria, has announced the execution of a definitive agreement with a vehicle owned by funds advised by Helios Investment Partners LLP to acquire 49% of the voting rights in Oando’s midstream business subsidiary, Oando Gas and Power Limited (OGP).

The agreed transaction consideration of $115.8 million is conditional upon the receipt of regulatory approvals and subject to customary purchase price adjustments. Upon completion, Oando will retain 49% of the voting rights in OGP. The residual 2% will be held by a local entity.

Recently, in another development, Oando PLC which is listed on both the Nigerian and Johannesburg Stock Exchange, has announced a $210 million recapitalization of its downstream operations by HV Investments II B.V., (“HVI”), a joint venture owned by Helios Investment Partners (“Helios”), a premier Africa-focused private investment firm and the Vitol Group (“Vitol”), the world’s largest independent trader of energy commodities (together, the “Consortium”).

As a result of this and further to the announcement on June 30, 2015, a new company will be formed to hold interests in Oando Marketing Limited, Oando Supply & Trading Limited, Apapa SPM Limited, and Oando Trippmart Limited. Oando PLC will retain 49% shareholding in the newly formed corporate vehicle, with the Consortium owning 49%, and the residual 2% owned by a local entity.

Time is hard in Nigeria indeed. It is simply unbelievable that Oando needs to sell assets to survive the low crude prices and the recession.