The African Development Bank (AfDB) is ready to provide technical and financial support for Ekiti State Government to upgrade its infrastructure. The support includes fixing the Ado-Ekiti-Akure road, which is in a terrible state.
Other projects, which the AfDB is willing to support, are the Ekiti Airport, the Ekiti Knowledge Zone (a smart city to promote knowledge economy) and the agriculture processing zone project, all geared towards improving infrastructure and socio–economic growth.
These are some of the highlights of a meeting between the Ekiti State government team led by Governor Kayode Fayemi and the AfDB President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, at the organisation’s headquarters in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire at the weekend.
The meeting was attended by top officials of the AfDB, including its Senior Vice President, Charles Boamah; three Vice Presidents, Celestine Monga (VP and Chief Economist); Vivienne Banke (VP Agriculture, Human and Social Development) and Ms Bajabulile Tshabalala (VP Finance and Chief Finance Officer); Senior Director for Nigeria, Ebrima Faal; among others.
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Yinka Oyebode said the meeting reviewed the project proposals tabled by Fayemi and resolved to support the government to actualise them, in line with the bank’s mission of supporting national and sub national governments’ development plans.
As a follow-up to the meeting, a team of technical experts from AfDB headquarters would be in Ado-Ekiti in the next few weeks for further discussion and assessment of the various projects. The visit and other activities that would follow would prepare the ground for the bank’s final decision.
Fayemi, who is also the chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), told the bank’s team his administration decided to seek AfDB’s support for the projects that are crucial to the infrastructure and industrial development of Ekiti State so as to improve the fortune of the state, reposition it as a destination of choice for investment and create jobs.
Adesina said the bank is excited about the plans for job creation, especially for the youth and the plans to improve the stock of infrastructure. He said the menace of kidnapping and banditry in the country would be arrested with more investments and job opportunities for the youths.