Bill Gates, American billionaire philanthropist has described Nigeria’s tax collection as ‘pretty low’.
The co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation addressed attendees at Nutrivision 2024, a pan-African youth dialogue on nutrition held in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria on Tuesday.
During the event, Gates responded to a question regarding potential financing mechanisms that the Federal Government of Nigeria could utilize to support large-scale public health initiatives.
He also highlighted Nigeria’s potential to become a net exporter of food, citing the country’s extensive land resources and favorable soil types.
The billionaire philanthropist said, “In agriculture, Nigeria, today, is a net food importer given the geography, if the right credit facilities and advice to farmers, soil surveys, (and other) things are available, there’s the opportunity for Nigeria to more than double its food output which would be pretty transformative because it would mean that you’d be a net food exporter instead of having to use very scarce dollars particularly at the current exchange rate to go buy food, you’re bringing dollars in.
“Particularly, agricultural productivity is important for the incomes in the rural, more northern areas and so embracing digital approaches, better seeds to get this kind of an agricultural miracle to take place that’s going to help the country in terms of equity, in terms of women, and in terms of these nutrition issues.
