By Bassey Nkponam
UYO
The Akwa Ibom government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), to optimally realise the vision of the ARISE Agenda.
The duo signed the pact, recently, during a brief ceremony at Government House, Uyo.
The State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, assured of the State’s commitment to its part of the agreement to successfully drive the process, adding, “God willing, we will do everything in our power to ensure that we work with you to actualise our vision, because ultimately it is our vision that you are helping to actualise.
“It is in our interest to ensure that we work with you as we open up frontiers to help our people in the areas already highlighted to include tourism, blue economy, skills and innovation, entrepreneurship, and trade”.
Eno acknowledged with applause, the interest and commitment of the UNDP to strategically partner the State government to optimally realise the vision of its ARISE Agenda, and intimated them of his administration’s plan to open youth-friendly centres in all the 31 local government areas of the State to assist in the development of the skills, creativity, and innovative ideas of young people, especially those in the rural areas.
According to him, “This becomes quite significant and necessary because that’s where we intend to galvanise them. For me, I believe that all of them don’t have to come to congregate in Uyo. So, we are building these youth-friendly centres at the headquarters of the local government areas for them to congregate to develop their skills and innovative ideas for their meaningful productivity and living. And, we believe we can work with you on all of these,” Eno added.
He welcomed the UNDP’s fresh partnership with the State government, describing it as strategic and important to help the State bring to reality its various projects and programmes and also improve the lot of the citizens.
Eno assured the team of his administration’s passion on timely delivery of projects, saying, “we have delivery advisors whose duties are project specific, while commissioners have adequate time to focus on policies, their interpretations, implementations and others. This our template is even what is now being sought after by other States since it is actually working seamlessly”.
The governor appreciated the UNDP for their support and willingness to work with the State government to foster much development among the people and overall growth of the State, assuring them of an office accommodation in Uyo to ease their operation, and proximity to their projects and programmes monitoring.
The UNDP resident representative in Nigeria, Mrs. Elsie Attafuah, applauded Akwa Ibom for standing out as excellent model for other sub nationals in its health, education and aviation sectors, saying the team was in the State to build on the vision of the governor, and strengthen collaboration between the State and the organisation.
Identifying the five possible areas of collaboration to include tourism, blue economy; energy; skills acquisition and innovation; broad governance and; finance development, Attefuah explained that the essence of the team’s partnership was to promote the ARISE Agenda and create jobs for Akwa Ibom people, noting that with the high-tech expertise that her team will bring on board, the State stands a better chance of significant transformation.
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