By Elijah Ugani
The United Nations and the Cross River State government has jointly signed the 2021/2022 Work Plan.
The Country Rep of the United Nations Population Agency UNFPA, Ms Ulla Elisabeth Mueller thanked Governor Ben Ayade for the opportunity and time created for the signing of the work plan and commended the collaboration from the Cross River State Government for the development of the work plan.
Mueller noted that “Cross River State is one of the leading states in the implementation of the Delivery as One project in Nigeria. It has been an interesting journey working with Cross River State in the past years.
“Cross River State has dynamic youths who want to contribute to the building of this country despite the challenges confronting them.
“The UN has moved to support you to overcome these seemingly myriad of challenges. During implementation, your team and the UN team will prioritize and ensure that every body gets the services that will be rendered”
On his part, Governor Ben Ayade commended the UN for the passion shown to Nigeria, particularly the challenges of Covid19 and the security within the Niger Delta region.
Ayade noted that “the choice of Cross River State for implementing all of these programs is not a surprise to us. Our concern is that we need to find time to sit on a table to share our concerns and find a sustainable way to addressing these concerns.
“I am particularly grateful because you are here to assist me deliver on my core mandate as Governor because your areas of delivery speaks to my core mandate. Our youths come out of school without job placement and that is why we line up industries to address unemployment in the state as well as expanded government to accommodate the interest of the youths.
“We started the Welding and Fabrication Academy, we will graduate our first batch in a couple of weeks from now, let’s see how we can incorporate them into this plan and see how we can provide basic start up kits for them.
“While I commend your dexterity to assist our state, I hope to see the change that will be associated with this humanitarian intervention”
The Governor seized the opportunity to commend the Commissioner, Ministry of International Development Cooperation MIDC, Dr Inyang Asibong for her resilience and commitment to ensuring the coordination of UN activities in the State.
Earlier, the Commissioner, MIDC, Dr Inyang Asibong commended efforts made by the UN Agencies working in Cross River State with UNFPA as the lead agency for the various interventions under the Delivery as One.
Asibong mentioned key result areas for the intervention to include:
a) Governance, Human Right, Peace and Security
b) Equitable Quality Basic Services and
c) Sustainable and Inclusive Growth and Development.
The Cross River State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr Tanko Ashang signed the work plan on behalf of the Cross River State Government while the UNFPA Country Rep, Mrs Ulla Elisabeth Mueller signed for the UN Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon.
The Chief of Staff to the Governor, Hon Martins Orim led other government functionaries to witness the signing, while the Head of Calabar Office of UNFPA, Dr Aliyu Yakubu led other UN agencies in Cross River State.
