Vice President Kashim Shettima has applauded the Gates Foundation for sustaining investments and humanitarian aid in Nigeria. The Vice President remarked that the Foundation remains the nation's strategic partner in the drive to change the Nigerian narrative.

Shettima, accordingly, pledged support for the Foundation's request to deepen and broaden its partnership with the Nigerian government and the private sector in digital transformation, nutrition, agriculture and health sectors, among others.

Shettima received, in audience, a delegation of the Gates Foundation, led by President of the Foundation's Global Growth and Opportunity (GGO) division, Mr. Hari Menon, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He commended members of the Nigerian team of the Gates Foundation for their passion for the Nigerian Project, describing them as very strategic partners.

The Vice President noted that Nigeria is a country with great potentials, and that if the nation gets its act right, it would surpass some major economies of the world, just as he described the country as the sleeping giant of Africa, taking a leaf from Napoleon Bonaparte who once described China as "a sleeping giant."

VP Shettima stressed the need to increase agricultural productivity by adopting modern technologies, optimizing inputs, and improving farm management practices, even as he identified key strategies in achieving this to include utilizing high-yield and climate-resilient seed varieties, precision farming, and improved irrigation systems.

Explaining why they were at the Presidential Villa to meet with the Vice President, Mr. Menon, President of the GGO division of the Foundation, said they were on a mission to deepen and broaden the Foundation's partnership with Nigeria.

He maintained that the idea is to advance the ongoing reforms of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, acknowledging that the country is going through a remarkable moment under the administration.