News in brief: Akwa Ibom state governor, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, aims to invest in fishermen and prioritise agriculture to enhance the state’s agricultural sector.
Akwa Ibom state governor, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, has pledged to invest in fishermen as a way to improve the state’s agricultural sector. His campaign slogan A.R.I.S.E had agriculture as its first letter to show the importance of the sector to his plans.
Eno called it the ‘new black gold’ in his inaugural address. He added that his administration will commit strongly to prioritising and supporting activities related to food production, agriculture, and related industries to ensure a stable and sustainable food supply.
“We will invest heavily in this critical sector, and cause a revolution to occur. Agriculture is the new black gold and we will get our people involved,” he said. “Food security and investments in agro-allied sector will be an abiding article of faith.“
Akwa Ibom was listed as the state with the fifth highest GDP from agriculture between 2013 and 2017, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Clearly, it is one of the top agriculturally rich states in Nigeria and owes a bulk of it to blue economy.
Eno said that he will take advantage of the blue economy, which involves sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth. He adds that this will help fishermen get proper financial reward for their work.
The governor’s other infrastructural plans like constructing roads and linking more communities to the national grid to provide them with electricity directly impacts agriculture. These solutions can solve problems like logistics, processing and storage.
We hope to track Governor Umo Bassey Eno’s performance in improving the agricultural sector of Akwa Ibom state. Stay up to date with us by subscribing to our newsletter.
