Agriculture coordinator, Okomu Oil Palm plc, Billy Ghanasah, says the company is collaborating with the Edo State government and Terra Agric Nigeria to cultivate oil palm on 5000 hectares of land over a period of six years.
Ghanasah said this at the Okomu Smallholder Farm Development Project organised in collaboration with the Edo State Investment Promotion Office (ESIPO) and Terra Agriculture, in Benin City, Edo State.
The coordinator said the project would promote complete value chain development of oil palm business in the state for existing and prospective oil palm farmers, adding that the project would be spread across four local government areas reputed for oil palm production in the state.
According to Ghanasah, Okomu will provide the inputs, technical support and offtake the produce from the farmers, noting, “We are looking at Ovia South West, Ovia North East, Uhunmwode and Esan West local government areas for locations of the hectares and we are expanding our oil mill by 50 percent in view of this project.”
Former permanent secretary, Edo State Ministry of Agriculture, Kadiri Bashiru, commended partners on the project, urging the organisers to have regular training for the youths, who will partake in the initiative.
He said the state government was empowering Edo people to drive the economy through its agripreneur programme, which links farmers to off-takers and ensures that farmers make good returns from their business.
Chairman, Terra Agric Nigeria, Jasper Izzi, said the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) would be providing 1000 hectares of land for the oil palm project in Ekpoma under a graduate management scheme.
Izzi said AAU was also collaborating in the training of farmers and development of arable crops and animal husbandry in the proposed land, adding, “We want to have one graduate to four hectares of land. This means 250 graduates will manage 1000 hectares of land with the support of over 9,000 unskilled labourers.
“Once Okomu starts preparing the oil palm seedlings which will take about a year, we will use the land for arable crop production and animal husbandry,” he said.
Head, Edo State Investment Promotion Office, ESIPO, Kelvin Uwaibi, said the state government is partnering with the stakeholders to boost job creation and educate farmers on modern agricultural techniques to adopt.
Uwaibi said the state government would be providing the enabling environment for the investment, noting, “We are supporting this to ensure investments that come into the state have the needed environment to thrive and to ensure that we are the final destination for investors.”
Meanwhile, to ensure that they perform their roles optimally and strengthen institutional structures for the development of the state, civil servants in Edo State have been charged to deploy Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in ensuring efficient service delivery.
This was the resolution of stakeholders at a two-day training workshop organised by the Edo State Ministry of Science and Technology, in Benin City, the state capital.
Permanent secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, Birgitta Eno Okodugha, said the workshop was organised to in line with the need to train and retrain staff, emphasising the demand for continuous capacity building in the workplace.
Speaking on the topic “Repositioning the Ministry of Science and Technology for Effective Service delivery in the 21st Century, Skills and Competencies,” she stated that technology is “apt at this time of promoting appropriate productive skills and technology leading to self-reliance, jobs and wealth creation.”
She said the ministry’s vision statement was to promote sustainable socio-economic development in Edo State through the application of science and technology that would enhance efficiency, productivity, training of teeming youths to be innovative, inventive, creative, soft-ware developers to drive economic growth and global competitiveness.
Daniel Olorunfemi, who delivered a lecture entitled “Quality and Integrity of Public Service in Nigeria and the Impact of Corruption in Daily Life in Nigeria,” said the public service of any country is regarded as a transformational institution because of its timeless responsibility of implementing public policies and programmes and rendering essential services to the masses.
He admonished participants to desist from such practices and uphold honesty, integrity and trust while deploying advanced technology.
Head of service, Isaac Ehiozuwa, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Directorate of Administration, Governor’s Office, Igberaese George, explained that the Governor Obaseki-led administration is committed to the promotion of capacity building in the civil service.
