ENUGU 2023: FRANK NWEKE JR PROMISES AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION CENTERS AS ADABA, UZO-UWANI PLEADS FOR FARMING SUPPORT
Frank Nweke Jr, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Enugu State, on Thursday reiterated his commitment to leverage the agricultural advantage of the region to boost economic transformation. He said this while assuring the people of Adaba Community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area that the needs they had enumerated to him were a top priority for him
. A youth leader and member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Engr. Chimezie Agu said the PDP government had failed to keep their promises to Adaba and its surrounding communities in Uzo-Uwani, hence the youths vowed to throw their weight behind the All Progressives Grand Alliance in the coming elections. He listed agricultural machines and other inputs, a functional market and good roads as the pressing needs of the people acknowledging their overwhelming support for Nweke and APGA.
In his response, Frank Nweke Jr began by promising a firm resolution to the terror of herdsmen attacks, ensuring that itinerant farmers could return to their trade without fear. They would also be provided with extension services through Agricultural Innovation Centers set up across the State. “We will help you to set up agricultural co-operatives and work through these to widen access to factors of production such as capital, capacity building, equipment, land, seedlings for rural farmers, people transitioning from the civil service and a new generation of agro-food entrepreneurs.
“We will also revive the era of farming estates and attract large scale farmers in order to open up the entire Uzo-Uwani to accelerate development. These settlements will have all the needed infrastructure needed to live comfortably such as good roads, water, healthcare, schools, markets and more. This will speed up rural development and reduce congestion in the major cities”
Nweke also said the community’s broken down roads will receive priority attention under his administration’s Strategic Road Construction and Rehabilitation Programme, noting its importance for the transportation of agricultural produce from the farms to markets.