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Nigeria’s federal and Kaduna state governments have committed a combined ₦40 billion to construct a ginger processing facility in Kachia Local Government Area that officials say is designed to become the largest operation of its kind on the African continent.
The announcement was made Monday by Sunday Katung, who represents Kaduna South in the National Assembly, in a written statement outlining the financial structure of the arrangement. Under the terms disclosed, the Kaduna State Government has pledged ₦20 billion toward the project, with the federal administration of President Bola Tinubu providing the remaining half. Neither government has publicly confirmed a construction timeline or named the executing agency responsible for delivery.
Kachia sits in southern Kaduna, a predominantly rural zone where smallholder farming remains the dominant economic activity. Nigeria is among the world’s leading producers of ginger, with much of the crop concentrated in the country’s middle belt, yet a significant share is exported in raw, unprocessed form, a pattern that limits farmer income and suppresses value addition along the supply chain.
Katung said the facility was intended to break that cycle. The hub, he said, would reduce post-harvest losses, increase processing capacity, and create rural employment at scale. “This project is not just about ginger; it is about jobs, rural industrialisation, wealth creation and restoring hope to our farming communities,” he said in the statement. “Our farmers will move beyond selling raw produce to value addition, processing and export.” The investment, as the senator framed it, is consistent with the federal government’s broader economic diversification strategy, described under the Tinubu administration as the Renewed Hope Agenda. Katung linked the project directly to that policy framework, as well as to what he described as the complementary development priorities of Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani. The senator did not specify what federal ministry or agency would oversee disbursement of the federal allocation, and details of the procurement process were not included in the statement.
Claims about a facility becoming the largest of its kind in Africa are difficult to verify independently at the planning stage, and no third-party assessment or feasibility documentation was attached to the announcement. The statement represents the senator’s characterisation of the project’s ambition rather than a confirmed technical specification.
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Katung used the statement to catalogue a broader set of federal investments he attributed to his tenure in the district. These include the establishment of a Federal University of Applied Sciences in Kachia and a planned College of Medicine in Manchok. The statement also noted that the Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa Memorial Hospital in Kafanchan has been upgraded to a Federal Medical Centre, a change in institutional classification that typically carries implications for staffing levels, specialist services, and federal funding allocations.
On healthcare infrastructure, the senator disclosed a separate agreement with Project C.U.R.E., a United States-based humanitarian organisation that distributes medical supplies to underserved communities globally. Katung said he had secured a five-year partnership under which the organisation would supply medical equipment to general hospitals across Kaduna South, with the value of those supplies put at approximately ₦8 billion. The arrangement appears to be in-kind rather than financial, though the statement did not elaborate on delivery schedules or the hospitals designated to receive the equipment.
Southern Kaduna has for years been affected by intercommunal violence between farming and herding groups, a conflict that has periodically displaced residents, disrupted agricultural activity, and drawn federal attention. Katung did not address security conditions directly in the statement but used the occasion to appeal for social cohesion, noting that the Lenten and Ramadan periods were overlapping this year. He called on constituents of different faiths to use the convergence as a basis for reinforcing interfaith relations and peaceful coexistence.
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The senator closed with an acknowledgment of ongoing challenges in the district, without specifying their nature, while expressing appreciation to constituents for what he described as continued support and constructive engagement.
The ginger hub’s next procedural steps, including formal project approval, contractor selection, and a groundbreaking schedule, have not been publicly announced by either the federal or state government. No joint statement from the two administrations was issued alongside Katung’s disclosure.
