ASABA/Nigeria: Chairman of the Delta State House Assembly Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hon. Princess Shola Ogbemi-Daibo said the committee is ready to work with the State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to lift the Ministry to an enviable height.
Honourable Shola Ogbemi-Daibo stated this when she led members of the Committee on a familiarization visit to the Headquarters of the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Asaba.
She said that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa administration had invested huge amount of money in the Agricultural Sector to improve the economy of the people and the State in general to fulfill his campaign mantra, “Prosperity for All Deltans.”
The House Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources Chairman noted that the Committee would not rest on it oars in carrying out its oversight functions on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Ministry to ensure that Delta was placed in the right position in the agriculture sector.
While commending the Ministry for actively supporting the State Government in uplifting the activities of the government in agriculture policies and programmes, Princess Shola Ogbemi Daibo sued for continued cooperation of the staff of the Ministry.
She pledged that the Committee would support the Agriculture and Natural Resources Ministry to overcome challenges facing it and advised that the Ministry should be open to the Committee in it activities.
Earlier, while welcoming the House Committee Chairman and members, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hon. Austin Chikezie stated that in spite of the challenges facing the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, the agriculture sector had made tremendous progress and remained a major contributor to the State’s GDP and therefore a key driver to achieve the SMART Agenda of the Okowa administration.
Hon Chikezie stated that some of the challenges facing the Ministry included, inadequate funding and untimely release of approved funds, insufficient subvention and negating effective service delivery, post harvest loss due to dearth of agro-processing machinery, among others.
He urged the Chairman and members of the Committee to use their good offices to attract greater priority to the agricultural sector, saying that the Ministry was ready to cooperate with them to achieve the aim of setting up the Committee.
The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Sir Austin Oghoro, expressed confidence on the House Committee members, saying that the relationship between them and the Ministry would forge a new map towards giving Deltans the best.
