UYO
The Akwa Ibom government has declared its resolve to cooperate fully with the Akwa Ibom Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (AK-RAAMP) to ensure successful implementation of the on-going RAAMP projects in the state.
The commissioner for agriculture, Dr. Offiong Offor, gave the assurance in Uyo while declaring open a week-long training of enumerators for recording features along approved RAAMP roads in the state.
Offor said the support of the state government on project implementation became imperative because the multiplying effects of the projects would further promote the infrastructural profile of the state, reinforce our industrialisation potential as well as create jobs and wealth foryouths of the state.
The commissioner, who described the training programme as very important towards the successful implementation of projects, lauded Gov Udom Emmanuel for his foresight indriving sustainable development in the state in partnership with other development institutions.
She commended the World Bank and French Development Agency for their vision of conceiving the programme, expressing optimism that in no distant future the partnership would ensure the construction of 500 kilometers of rural roads, bridges and other cross drawing structures as well as development of markets and Agro-logistics Centres in the state.
RAAMP, Offor said, would galvanise all agricultural value chains, promote their market options and provide other ancillary opportunities that would add value to our primary agricultural produce.
The projects, when fully implemented, she said, would enable rural farmers to reduce their production cost, maximise profits in addition to improving the general condition of lives acrossrural communities of Akwa Ibom.
The commissioner applauded AK-RAAMP for a job well done and charged participants to demonstrate high degree of seriousness throughout the training duration, advising them to see the exercise as an investment in knowledge.
Her words: “As you embark on this training and in preparation for the extensive field exercise, I charge you to be serious in learning, adhere to all the protocols required for entering into the rural areas and ensure accurate mapping and quality delivery of needed data to allow proper and efficient planning design and development of rural road infrastructures in the state under RAAMP.”
Offor said the state government has provided necessarymodalities to guarantee the safety of all the enumerators during their field assignment in the state.
She appreciated the state project coordinator and his team and congratulated all the young professionals that were carefully selected from the areas of Engineering, Surveys and International Communication Technology (ICT) for the training programme which, she said, would offer opportunity for them to acquire new and innovative skills in line with the international standard in their chosen fields.
The senior special assistant to the governor on multilateral and donor-funded projects, Mr Ndianabasi Udom, in his remarks, lauded the AK-RAAMP team for keeping to every detail in the project work plans.
Udom noted that the capacity the AK-RAAMP team so fardemonstrated were evidences that the project implementation would be successful in the state.
He thanked the state governor for keying into the project which, he noted, were for the overall interest of the state and its people, advising participants at the training to see their selection as an opportunity for them to contribute to the successful implementation of the project in the state.
The state coordinator of AK-RAAMP, Pastor Gideon Akpan, appreciated the state government for investing in the project, noting that apart from the various infrastructures which the state stands to benefit from the project execution, a lot of unemployed youths would be gainfully employed during and after the project implementation.
He disclosed that the state government has put in place sustainability plans to ensure all- round functionality of the projects to be implemented in the state, assuring that Akwa Ibom would benefit from AK-RAAMP in the areas of access roads in all the rural communities, employment generation as well as knowledge transfer, among others.
Akpan urged the participants at the training to take the exercise serious so as to justify the state government’s huge investments in the project.
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