News: Akwa Ibom Plans to Employ 10,000 Youths in Agriculture

The Akwa Ibom State Government says it has concluded plans to recruit 10,000 youths from the state in various job openings in the agricultural sector to boost food production.

Governor Udom Emmanuel announced this during an interaction with leaders of major sociocultural organisations that were at the Government House, Uyo on a solidarity visit.

He said that his administration is committed to laying a solid economic foundation for the future through industrialisation and that for a take-off, ten modernised cassava processing plant would be established across the state.

He noted that the state is blessed with arable land that supports the cultivation for all seasons and that he is committed to exploiting the agricultural potentials of the state to its maximum advantage by ensuring that the abundant hectares of land is put to use agriculturally.

Speaking further, Governor Emmanuel disclosed that the employment will enable the youths of the state who were earlier sent to the State of Israel for training on mechanised farming and that the move is tilted towards ensuring that indigenes of the state have earned a living rather than begged for it.

“If we don’t plant today, there may not be harvest tomorrow to sustain the people; as over-dependence on oil does not do the economy any good,” Governor Emmanuel stated.

He used the occasion to decry the misinformation making the rounds in the state; adding that there has been misrepresentation on compensation payment, tax issue, upgrading of electrical facilities and the recent tribunal verdict.

He therefore called on the people to discountenance such publications; stressing that they are counterproductive to development. The international president of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, Monday Etukakpan, who led the delegation, informed the Governor that all the socio-cultural organisations in the state have decided to visit him, to declare their solidarity as regards the tribunal verdict.

He described the governor as the right man for the right job and at the right time and advised him not to succumb to blackmail but should sustain the ongoing developmental strides.

Source: Business Day