By Daniel Tyokua
Benue and five other states in the country have entered into an agreement with the European Investment Bank for a €150 million facility to help them in rural development.
The €150m facility is expected to open up rural roads and build agricultural markets for farmers also in states of Borno, Taraba, Cross River, Edo and Anambra under the Rural Access and Agricultural Market Projects (RAAMP).
Coordinator of the project in Benue state, Mr. Stephen Numbeve in an interaction recently, said once the funds are disbursed and implementation starts in March, rural people in the state, who are farmers would be empowered as they will have access roads to transport their produces to the markets.
Numbeve said, “The people of Benue have suffered so much. RAAMP came into the state since 2016 but the state has never for once accessed any funds from any quarters to help develop Benue communities. The road networks that are very poor have not been developed for a while even though RAAMP has been on board since 2016.
“My mandate is to ensure that we secure funds from our sponsors, World Bank is there, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank , among other agencies to enhance the lives of the rural people.
“Benue is the food basket of the nation but at the end of every farming season, food stuff are left wasted because of lack of access to the markets. We will salvage this situation. As a matter of fact, since I came on board, I have been privileged to meet with the European Investment Bank, through the Minister of Finance, and we have already signed a deal with the bank that is very reasonable.”
He said the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, signed the agreement with the bank on behalf of the six states in December, 2023 and they would share the 150 million Euros among them.
Numbeve explained what, “Any moment from now funds will be released and aggressive road rehabilitation will take place in our rural areas.
“We will also ensure that our markets are capable of warehousing the produce that will be coming out of the farms. As a result, one of our mandates is to put in place very serious, very big and modern warehouses will have the capacity of storing even fresh food.”
He further explained that rural access roads will be constructed while three modern warehouses, one in each senatorial zone, will be built; saying emphasis will be laid on areas where a lot of agricultural produce come from .
He also said bridges will be constructed in some communities for easy access
