A new development in Enugu State as the Governor of the State His Excellency Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah and the Chairmen of the 17 Local Government Areas agree on a project funding partnership of 60% and 40% respectively.
In the news made public on Tuesday 17th October 2023, it was revealed that the Enugu State Government is building 300,000 hectares of agricultural land banks across the seventeen Local Government Areas in the state to trigger agricultural and agro-industrialisation.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia speaking on behalf of the State Government after a meeting of the State Economic Planning Commission noted that the Commission would select from the lists of projects already submitted by the chairmen of the 17 LGA in Enugu State based on their expected impacts on rural economies.
Speaking further, the SSG said “What is important to note is that the Governor is interested in opening up all the rural areas to enhance and catalyse all their economic activities and potentials.
“The chairmen have already submitted projects, but those projects will have priorities in their selection. What the Economic Planning Commission Executive Chairman and his team are doing right now is to look at the projects, especially projects like road projects, educational projects, security projects, and the things that align to the state economic growth targets.
In the press briefing to the members of media for effective communication to the general public, the Chairman of the Enugu State Chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Sydney Okechukwu Edeh said that the funding partnership would trigger multiple capital development projects across Enugu State.
“The essence of it is that we must embark on projects that the state government will be proud of and the rural people will benefit well from”
The Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture in Enugu State, Patrick Ubru, also noted that the government was working hard at de-risking land acquisition for agriculture by building 300,000 agricultural land banks across the 17 local government areas.
Speaking further, he said “What it means is that after that is done, we will now have specific places where we do our farming and in line with our desired crops in terms of the comparative advantages of each local government. And we also have land for our forest reserves because that we are farming does not mean we are going to cut down trees everywhere.
“The essence of the land banks is to help the state government de-risk the risk associated with land acquisition and encourage investors to come into the state and invest in agriculture.
“Meanwhile, a whole lot of that will be done. We have made significant progress in our cassava-to-ethanol value chain programme within this short period. We have cultivated over 100 hecters of cassava and soya in Aninri, over 50 hecters in Uzo Uwani and 60 hecters in Nkanu East”
In the concluding news gathered by Silvercloud Media concerning the 300,000 hectares Agric land banks earmarked for agricultural development, the new development in Enugu State could help in increasing the GDP of Enugu as each Local Government Area in the State has its stronghold in agriculture or better expressed as what each LGA is known for and support as announced will trigger an increase in production.