18th January, 2016
The Akwa Ibom Government has announced plans to engage consultants from Canada and Switzerland to educate farmers in the state on cocoa cultivation.
The state governor, Udom Emmanuel, disclosed this on Monday in Uyo during the monthly prayer meeting held at Government House.
Emmanuel said that the state government would soon launch a Grassroots Peasant Multipurpose Cocoa Scheme, a farmers cooperative programme that would enhance access to improved cocoa seedlings.
He explained that the scheme would also enable farmers from the state to sell their produce at international market price.
Emmanuel called on Nigerians to pray for divine intervention in Nigeria in the face of the dwindling oil price and lower value of the Naira against international currencies.
He said the fall in price of oil had brought about shortfall in the monthly financial allocation from Federation Account to the state.
The governor noted that the unfortunate development had made it difficult for the state to meet some of its obligations to its workforce.
“But not for ingenuity on fiscal appropriation and management of resources, it would have been difficult to meet expectations in handling programmes and projects in the state,” Emmanuel said.
Earlier in his sermon, Rev. Joseph Eton of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Uyo, prayed that God should sustain the state, the people, and the government by His special grace.
Preaching on the theme “Grace for Greater things than these,” the cleric pleaded with God to bless the state.
He commended the state governor for his commitment to wealth creation and infrastructural development.