Akwa Ibom State Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding,MOU, with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, as part of efforts to ensure full actualisation of the ARISE Agenda.
At the signing of the MOU at Government House, Uyo, Governor Umo Eno applauded the interest and commitment of UNDP to strategically partner with the State government to optimally realize the vision of the ARISE Agenda, assuring that the State will be committed to its part of the agreement to successfully drive the process
“God willing, we will do everything in our power to ensure that we work with you to actualize our vision, because ultimately it is our vision that you are helping to actualize.
“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 assured the team of his administration’s passion on timely delivery of projects.
“We have Delivery Advisors whose duties are project specific while Commissioners have adequate time to focus on policies, their interpretations, implementations, and others. This our template is even what is now being sought after by other States since it is actually working seamlessly,” he stated.
The Governor welcomed the UNDP’s fresh partnership with the State Government, describing it as strategic and important to help the State bring to reality its various projects and programmes and improve the lot of the people.
He assured the UNDP team of an office accommodation in Uyo to ease their operation, proximity to their projects and programmes monitoring, lauding the UNDP team for their support and willingness to work with the State government to foster development and overall growth of the State.
“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.
Earlier, the UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria, Mrs. Elsie Attafuah, commended the State for standing out as excellent model for other Sub-Nationals in its health, education, and aviation sectors.
Mrs. Attafuah disclosed that the UNDP team came to build on the vision of the Governor, and strengthen collaboration between the State and the organization.
She identified five possible areas of collaboration to include: tourism, blue economy; energy; skills acquisition and innovation; broad governance; and finance development.
Mrs. Attafuah explained that the essence of the team’s partnership is to promote the ARISE Agenda and create jobs for people of the State, stressing that with the high-tech expertise that her team will bring on board, the State stands a better chance to be transformed significantly.
Highpoint of the occasion was the formal signing of the MoU by representatives of the State Government and the UNDP team.
Source: Uko Sam, FRCN, Uyo.
