Akwa Ibom State to feed 2.3m vulnerable citizens, approximately 600,000 households free

Akaiso Akaiso, Uyo

The Akwa Ibom State Government is to provide free food to two million three hundred thousand poorest of the poor of its citizens, or approximately 600,000 households across the three senatorial districts of the state. 

To achieve this, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Offiong Offor disclosed that the administration of Governor Umo Eno was embarking on massive food production through investments in agriculture.

Speaking on Monday during a media interaction tagged ARISE Scorecard with the theme, “Food Sufficiency and Security”, Offor listed strategies adopted by the government to feed the people.

With her at the briefing was the commissioner of Information and Strategy, Mr Ini Ememobong, the Commissioner of Economic Development, Emem Bob and the Akwa Ibom Bulk Purchase Agency Chairman, Mr Dan Akpan.

She disclosed that seven local government areas in the state have provided lands to support food production.

“Government is funding agricultural cooperative societies, providing lands, fertilizers, improved seedlings, cassava stems, loans and grants and constructing rural roads all in a bid to increase food production.

“Food sustainability remains the priority of Governor Umo Eno’s administration. The first thing is that the Ministry of Agriculture merged with the Ministry of Rural Development which also has a component of cooperatives.

“He was deliberate in doing this because the cooperatives system is the system driving food productivity anywhere in the world.

“The state government has a database of farmers and is working with farmers associations such as the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, Rice Farmers Association, and Aquaculture Associations in the 31 local government areas of the state.

“The government is also working with market unions to supply staple foods at subsidized prices. It has provided cold rooms, fishing nets and boats to artisanal fishermen.

Also speaking, the Commissioner of Economic Development, Mr Emem Bob said that the government was targeting about 600,000 households captured in its Social Register for its various intervention programmes aimed at ameliorating economic hardship in the state 

Emem, said though the state Social Register has increased to 2.3m people, the government is reaching out to the vulnerable poor through 600 households captured in the social register.

“The social register is well-structured. It’s structured in such a way that we have broken the villages, wards and local governments that make up the state social register. The total number of people in the social register is 2.3 million individuals.

“When you talk about households we have about 600 households in the social register and that is what we have been using for various interventions in the state,” Bob said.

He explained that the process for selection into the social register is clear and transparent and that the social register had been up for the past 8 years until Governor Umo Eno ordered that it be expanded to accommodate those who have fallen under the poverty line.

He said “How people are selected for the social register is very clear, it is a very transparent process in the sense that there is what we called Community-Based Targeting. Don’t forget that anything that involves the World Bank is very transparent. They are thorough. 

“Community-Based Targeting is what was used for social register and we have State Organizing Coordinating Units which works with the National Social Safety Nets Coordinator unit in Abuja; they work together and have Staff across the local government. They go to villages, meet with village heads to pick these people,” Emem said.

The Information Commissioner appreciated Governor Eno for the government’s various intervention programmes to address the state’s current hardship.