…To concession state owned agricultural ventures to investors
Okafor Ofiebor/ Port Harcourt
The administration of Governor Nyesom Wike said about 100,000 direct and indirect jobs are expected to be created in Rivers by rejuvenation of the non oil sector of the state’s economy.
To set this in motion, on June 4, 2020, the Rivers Executive Council approved the concession of state owned agricultural facilities to investors n the bid to break dependence on oil revenues.
Under the arrangement, government will concession facilities currently lying fallow or which potentials were not being fully exploited to the private sector.
The facilities listed for concession under the arrangement are Songhai Rivers Farm, Buguma Fish Farm, Onne Fish Farm, Nonwa Fish Farm, Andoni Fish Farm, Ubima Fish Farm, Opobo Fish Farm, School to Land farm at Kpah, Poultry breeding farm and hatchery at Atali Lifestock breeding farm at Elimgbu, Rumudomaya Feedmill, and the School to Land Authority Farm at Egbeda.
Also, the Rivers State Cassava Processing Company is getting set to will commence operations.
The state government said it is also in talks with some manufacturing companies that will rely on the raw materials extracted from the agricultural ventures for partnership.
It also reiterated its willingness to entertain Public Private Partnership based proposals from ago-allied firms willing to invest in the state in the bid to explore the potentials of the state owned ventures.
Consequently, Gov. Nyesom Wike, has appointed Ibrahim Eddy Mark as the Executive Director of Bureau for Public/Private Partnership, for an effective and transparent coordination.
When fully implemented, the Government said it expected Rivers State to be the agriculture hub of the South-South region.
The Rivers Government also said this will ensure that about 70 percent of the over N1bn spent on food in Rivers every month will circulate within the state.
“This will translate to an increase in our Gross Domestic Product, GDP; Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, and most importantly, a significant decline in the unemployment and poverty rates in the state, because apart from the direct jobs that will be created, our local farmers will have avenues to sell their farm produce to manufacturers,” the Rivers State Government said.