Yahaya Bello, Kogi State governor, has met with the French Ambassador and Minister of Foreign Trade for French Development Agency- L’Agence Française de Développement (AFD)– for rapid development of Kogi State.
Bello was represented by the Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Mukadam Asiwaju Asiru Idris, at the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) meeting with the French Minister for Foreign Trade, Franck Reister, held at the NGF secretariat in Maitama-Abuja.
The meeting was at the instance of the French Ambassador to Nigeria, M. Jèrôme Pasquier to discuss subsisting support to states and also seek areas of priorities where collaboration can be consumated.
Note that L’Agence Française de Développement (AFD), an interventionist agency, is developing rural transport infrastructure through the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) for a total amount of 200million EURO. This is co-financed by the World Bank, in which Kogi State and 12 other states of the federation are beneficiaries.
While delivering his remarks, Asiwaju stated that the nine thematic areas of the New Direction government as led by Governor Bello in Kogi State are fully in alignment with the broad focused areas.
He said: “For instance, our priorities in Security, Agriculture, Funding of Governance, Public Service and Pension Reform are in line with your economic diversification drive and modernisation of public services”.
“Also, our priority on Education, Health, Human Capital Development, Entrepreneurship & Youth Engagement are also in sync with your aim of boosting Agriculture at the regional level; that is, creating an atmosphere of Inclusive Economic Growth.
“Furthermore, all our thematic areas are in compliance with Environmental Sustainability and Resilience, which is similar to your goals of financing the low-carbon energy transition and reinventing cities that are environmentally friendly”.
