GOVERNOR UDOM EMMANUEL BAGS BEST GOVERNOR AWARD AS NIGERIAN FARMERS AND AGRO INDUSTRY STAKEHOLDERS GATHER IN AKWA IBOM STATE

HC. Investment, Commerce & Industry, Barr. Prince Akpabio (L) receiving the award on behalf of Governor Udom Emmanuel 

Endiong John

Governor Udom Emmanuel bagged yet another Best Governor  in Nigeria Award as Nigeria Agribusiness and Agro-Industry Development Initiative (NAADI) ends it's stakeholders training session organized by Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment.

The Award which recognised Udom Emmanuel as the most Agribusiness Supportive and promoting Governor cited Governor Udom Emmanuel's innumerable support to farmers as well as his agro based initiatives and programmes as the basis for the award.

Presenting the award on behalf of NAADI, the Zonal coordinator of NAADI, South-South, Mr Howard Usen said that there is nobody more deserving of the Nigeria Agribusiness And Agro-Industry Development Initiative award of Best Governor than Deacon Udom Emmanuel. Mr Howard Usen said that NAADI had painstakingly followed the Agro-Industry developmental strides of Deacon Udom Emmanuel including visiting the project sites before conferring the award to the Governor.

Enumerating some of the agricultural related achievements of the Governor, Mr Usen said that NAADI was very impressed with the such projects as the fertilizer plant, the rice revolution, the cocoa renaissance, the coconut plantation and refinery, the rice mill, the tomatoes and cucumber farming, the Akwa Prime Hatchery in Uruan amongst others.

On his part, the National Coordinator of NAADI, Mr Kwara Irimiya of the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Abuja who led a delegation of Agro Stakeholders from Abuja said that NAADI has never had it any better in terms of collaboration and profitable partnership. Irimiya extolled Deacon Udom Emmanuel who through the Ministry of Investment, Commerce and Industry has given NAADI the support and motivation needed to thrive in the State. According to him, Akwa Ibom is the State that NAADI with the best presence of NAADI which is why the number of farmers have skyrocketed in the State.

Receiving the award on behalf of Governor Udom Emmanuel, the Commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Industry, Barr Prince Ukpong Akpabio thanked the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment and NAADI, first for the award to Deacon Udom Emmanuel as Best Governor on Agro-Industry Development, noting that if they were not an organisation of integrity, they would have sold the award to any other Governor willing to pay. The Investment, Commerce and Industry boss said that the award will encourage Deacon Udom Emmanuel to do more on Agro-Industry development.

Akpabio told an audience of innumerable people who came for the training that Deacon Udom Emmanuel was very deserving of the award of Best Governor in Agribusiness and Agro-Industry development since his administration birth an agro revolution in the State. Buttressing his point, the Honourable Commissioner said that prior to the Udom Emmanuel administration that apart from the fact that food commodities were expensive, that it was not even found for purchase in the market.

"It took strategic thinking and deliberate investment to achieve what we have achieved in Agribusiness in Akwa Ibom State today. I can tell you for instance that the Akwa Ibom State Government did not import a single grain of rice last December. We ate what we grow.

We're investing in Coconut plantation and refined oil because it's value in the market is even higher than the value of crude oil. These were neglected areas and it's taken the leadership of Deacon Udom Emmanuel to revitalise Agribusiness and Agro-Industry. We're not relenting. More will be achieved in the second term of His Excellency ", said Barr. Prince Ukpong.

The occasion was largely attended with participation going beyond farmers and stakeholders, to partner bodies like the Central Bank of Nigeria, key stone bank and NIRSAL. The highlight of the occasion was the lecture presentation by a renown agro technocrat, Mrs Helen Akula who is NIRSAL's Head of PMRO in Uyo. The stakeholders were treated to Gala and Dinner Evening at Monty Suites at the instance of the Commissioner for Investment, Commerce and Industry.