§ Mr. SpellerTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will make a statement on the results of meetings held in Abuja, Nigeria during November by the Parliamentary Secretary, the Baroness Trumpington, with members of the Federal Government of Nigeria in respect of financial aid for development.
§ Mr. Donald ThompsonThe main purpose of my noble Friend's visit to Nigeria in November was to open an agricultural seminar, but while in Lagos she took the opportunity on behalf of the Government to announce a three-year agricultural education project involving links between British and Nigerian agricultural colleages, a conservation and rural development programme at Oban Hills in Cross River state, and the provision of consultants for a study of the Nigerian sugar industry. She mentioned existing projects, including emergency aid for controls against grasshopper pests, funding for the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan and the current World Bank study of agricultural potential on the Mambilla plateau. She said that the British Government would consider other Nigerian requests for further aid to the agricultural sector under the technical co-operation programme. Subsequent action, of course, falls to my hon. Friend the Minister for Overseas Development.