The Africa Oil Palm Initiative (APOI) has said Edo State is leading a regional expansion in oil palm development in the Niger Delta region, leveraging its sustainable models and approaches to create a regional platform.
This was contained in a report titled “The Africa Palm Oil Initiative: Highlights 20192020,” x-raying efforts to emplace a sustainable way to increase oil palm production in West and Central Africa.
According to the report, “In Edo State, one communications campaign has had a massive impact – raising awareness of the successes in Edo has caused a further 6 other palm oil-producing states in Nigeria to join the platform. The campaign was centred around materials produced showing stakeholders how to get involved in the platform and outlining the aims and processes of APOI.
“The facilitator used this information at conferences held in the state and beyond at the NEXIM Bank Forum 2020, which attracted CEOS, governors from other states, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and palm oil producers and processors.
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“At the following platform meeting, they discussed how to expand the Edo State platform into a Regional platform, with the addition of the six other states of the Niger Delta geopolitical region – Ondo, Rivers, Bayelsa, Cross-rivers, Delta, and the Awka-Ibom States.”
The APOI ranked Edo among nine other Africa countries leading the resurgence of oil palm production. The countries include Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Republic of the Congo, and Sierra Leone.
A Non-governmental Organisation, Policy Alert has urged the Akwa Ibom Assembly to provide details of constituency projects embarked upon by its members during the 2019 fiscal year.
The demand was made in a communique issued at the end of the community forum on the 2019 budget implementation and signed by the Executive Director of the organisation, Tijah Akpan.
“We note that there was an approved budget of N1.632 billion, and the actual release of N1.057 billion for constituency projects across the 26 state constituencies as contained in the Akwa Ibom State 2019 Annual Report of the Accountant General released to the public on November 19, 2020.
“We also note that there was a vote of N1 billion for constituency projects in the approved revised 2020 budget (the implementation level of which we cannot ascertain at this time), and a further vote of N1 billion in the proposed budget for 2021.
