ONNA—Akwa Ibom State Government has
shown interest in the N200 million doled out by the Federal Government for the
Cassava FADAMA-111 Additional Financing Intervention Project, saying it will
help the state’s efforts to boost agriculture and create jobs for the teeming
unemployed in the state.
Governor Udom Emmanuel gave the indication while
flagging off the planting of 40 hectares Cassava FADAMA-111 Additional
Financing Intervention Project in Awa-Iman, Onna Local Government Area of the
state. The FADAMA-111 Additional Financing Project which is a programme of the
Federal Ministry of Agriculture, it was gathered, has Akwa-Ibom as one of the
six core states to benefit from the N200 million doled our by the Federal
Government to support full value chain in cassava, tomato, rice and sorghum
planting. Emmanuel explained that his administration decided to give priority
to agriculture not only to diversify the economy from petroleum but to empower
the people of the state on a more sustainable basis than was the case before.
“We have depended on oil over the years and at the end of the day, I keep
asking, if the empowerment programmes for how many years now had really worked,
then, why is it that after about 30 days, people are broke and faced with a
situation where the empowerment money had disappeared? “This is because we had
not developed our value chain properly. So, today, I am trying to see how I can
develop a full core value chain for the state in agriculture, education and
everything. “As I talk, even in education, I have just given orders to the SA
on Technical Education that in the next 12 months, we should be able to produce
pencils that are used in our schools so that we are able to create jobs and
wealth for our people. “Besides, there is no country in the world today that
says it is a developed nation that did not conquer food first. If you don’t
conquer food, you are not ready for development. So, the first point of
development is to till the soil,” the governor said. Speaking on the occasion,
the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Peter Ajibade,
said that the Federal Government had approved N200 million to support full
value chain in cassava, rice, tomato and sorghum to encourage states with the
potentials to meet the expected value chains to help realise the objective of
providing food for the nation.
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