WATER RESOURCES
60. To boost service delivery in the provision of potable water in the State, Government has proposed to spend N2.5b in the 2020 fiscal year.
61. We have domesticated state of emergency in the water sector (WASH) as declared by the Federal Government. We have also set up an inter-ministerial steering committee on water sanitation and hygiene to ensure effective implementation of the goals. The focal point of the state of emergency is to work towards ending open defecation in the State in no distant time.
AGRICULTURE
62. Our commitment to our farmers runs deep. One of the key elements of the agriculture-based job and wealth creation strategy of this administration is the market-oriented development of the commodity value chains. Within this context, the Delta State Foods Export Initiative was set up to link farmers and processors to domestic and export markets in order to ensure better prices and sustained higher incomes. The initiative started, on a pilot scale, with the production, packaging, branding, international certification and successful export of high quality garri to the United Kingdom.
63. Through this pilot initiative, this administration has demonstrated that it is achievable to reach high standards of food quality and export same to Nigeria diaspora markets across the world. Specifically, the initiative has attained four fundamental enablers of foods export namely;
– the creation of food quality assurance and verification mechanisms along the cassava-garri value chain;
– the establishment of food quality testing laboratory;
– the establishment of state-of-the-art garri packaging factory at Issele-Uku; and
– the existence of diaspora off takers of the high quality garri.
64. The immense impacts of the foods export project on job and wealth creation along the commodity value chain is evidenced by the initial direct and indirect economic benefits and incentives to cassava farmers, processors and logistics operators.
65. In the 2020 fiscal year, we will aim at consolidating the success of the pilot initiative to strengthen already established systems and upscale foods export. Efforts will be directed to cover more cassava processors, improve training of value chain operators, streamline the cassava supply chain, expand market off-take and enhance capacity utilization at the Issele-Uku packaging factory.
66. The sum of N2.0 billion is proposed for the agricultural sector in the 2020 fiscal year.
JOB CREATION
67. The faithful implementation of our job creation programmes in the last four years is ensuring a stronger and more resilient economy and better living conditions for Deltans. The impacts of these programmes, particularly the Skills Training and entrepreneurship Programme (STEP) and Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP), have been felt by various segments of Delta society – unemployed youths, workers, micro, small and medium enterprises, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), farmers, traders and so on.
68. One remarkable social impact of the job creation programme is the mind-set shift, among youths, from government (salaried) employment to entrepreneurship and self-employment. Through the training and reorientation modules of STEP and YAGEP, the youths are imbibing the principles of skills acquisition and entrepreneurship as a viable employment option. They are now looking beyond and outside their academic certificates for employment and livelihoods, as owners and managers of skills-based enterprises.
69. The job creation programme is also impacting positively on the growth and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in the state. By providing services as training centres, facilitators and mentors to the job creation programme, hundreds of small and medium enterprises have been stimulated and supported to upgrade their technical, entrepreneurial and managerial capacities, increase visibility/patronage and improve the quality of their services and achieve enterprise development.
70. In line with the goal of strengthening job and wealth creation, efforts will be devoted in the year 2020 towards consolidating on the impacts already achieved, upscaling the coverage and institutionalization. The sum of N1.5 Billion is proposed for the Job Creation Office in the 2020 fiscal year.
