The Akwa Ibom State Government and the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP) have endorsed a deal as part of a broader vision to boost tourism, enhance blue economy, ensure innovation as well as upscale skills training.
Representatives of the State Government and UNDP officials signed on behalf of the two bodies respectively at a short ceremony held in Uyo, the State capital.
Speaking shortly before the agreement was signed, Governor Umo Eno applauded the interest and commitment of UNDP to strategically partner with the State Government to optimally realise the vision of its agenda.
He assured that the State would be committed to its part of the agreement to successfully drive the process.
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“It is in our interest to ensure that we work with you as we open up frontiers to help our people on the areas already highlighted to include tourism, blue economy, skills and innovation, entrepreneurship, and trade”, the governor noted.
Governor Eno intimated the UNDP team of his Government’s plan to open Youth-Friendly Centres in all the 31 Local Government Areas of the State to help develop the skills, creativity and innovative ideas of young people in the State, especially those residing in the rural areas.
“This becomes quite significant and necessary because that’s where we intend to galvanise them. For me, I believe that all of them don’t have to come to congregate in Uyo.
“So, we are building these Youth-Friendly Centres at the headquarters of the Local Government Areas for them to congregate to develop their skills and innovative ideas for their meaningful productivity and living. And, we believe we can work with you on all of these,” he added.
He assured the UNDP team of office accommodation in Uyo to ease their operation, proximity to their projects and programmes monitoring.
“We will continue to look forward to leveraging on your experience, which is critical for us, with a view of delivering our projects and programmes for the betterment of our people”, he said.
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Earlier, the UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Elsie Attafuah, commended the State for standing out as an excellent model for other Sub-Nationals in its health, education, and aviation sectors.
Attafuah disclosed that the UNDP team came to build on the vision of the governor and strengthen collaboration between the State and the Organisation.
She identified five possible areas of collaboration to include: tourism, blue economy, energy, skills acquisition and innovation, broad governance and finance development.
Attafuah explained that the essence of the team’s partnership is to promote the State Government blueprint as envisioned in the Arise Agenda and create jobs for people of the State, stressing that with the high-tech expertise that her team would bring on board, the State stands a better chance to be transformed significantly.
