Urhobo Economic Investment Summit Holds In Warri
LAGOS OCTOBER 14TH (URHOBOTODAY)-The Urhobo Economic and Investment Group, a body of young Urhobo professionals, will on Thursday, October 18, 2018, host the Urhobo nation to an economic investment summit at the Wellington Hotel in Effurun, Delta State.
According to the group’s Co-ordinator, Kingsley Ubiebi, the summit, which has been tagged “Ekpo Baro” which in Urhobo means “let us make progress,” is expected to attract investors, industrialists, entrepreneurs, academics, policy-makers, politicians, youths and women associations and traditional rulers.
The summit, with the theme, “Galvanising Investment to Meet Opportunities in Urhobo Nation,” is expected to kick-start an economic revolution, which will alter the socio-economic condition of the Urhobo nation for good.
Speakers at the event include Prof. Ben Oghojafor, Dr. Charles Apoki, Dr. Blessing Enamuotor, Mr. Godfrey Efeurhobo, Mrs. Shimitte Bello and Mr. Henry Orhojoma.
The event, which will start at 10:00 a. m., will be chaired by Prof. Sam Oyovbaire, while Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa will be special guest of honour.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the senator representing Delta Central in the National Assembly, will be guest of honour while all traditional rulers in Urhoboland will be royal fathers of the day.
I want to congratulate the organizers of this SUMMIT. It is long overdue. I hope it will not be another talk shop, but that its outcome/output will translate into real investments and economic projects that will create jobs, wealth, improved livelihoods and and enhanced SECURITY.
Please whoever is the editor of this post should as a matter of urgency use another map. It would be misleading to add “Isoko” on that map. There are a lot of maps showing Urhobo territories on Google. The editor of this piece should take a minute to find them out and remove this said map from the post. So the reading public would not be given a false representation. Thank you.
@engineer akpoyibo,please is Isoko not part of urhobo,why are you people bringing division everyday,try to your mindset,tisoko,turhobo djobi ovuovo,God bless u all
Rural Development: Some thoughts on a Low Cost Poverty Alleviation Program in Nigeria
Farming is the major occupation of over 60% of our rural population, and significant reductions in poverty levels can be accomplished in rural areas across the country, if we can actively encourage young professionals and retiring public office holders to go back to their villages and gets the farmers there to form cooperatives that would buy fairly used trucks, if need be, on hire purchase. And the cooperatives adopt a policy of trucking the bulk of their produce directly to markets in the state capital, or to Lagos or Abuja, as against selling them to middlemen.
A kilogram of produce that the middle men would have bought for about N100 in the village could easily sell for N300 when sold directly to the end consumer in Lagos or Abuja. When aggregated, that differential could come to a substantial amount, that can go into a community development fund that would be used to transform the community through various development projects.
The development fund could be used to finance empowerment projects such as the following: send young people in the community to the Songhai Center in Benin Republic http://www.songhai.org/index.php/en/ for training as Agric extension officers, who would bring farmers in the village up to date with modern farming techniques; small farming machinery of different types could be acquired to reduce the drudgery of farm labor; micro drip irrigation kits can be procured to enable year round farming. These are all aimed at increasing farm productivity and bringing even more funds into the coffers of the cooperative.
The development fund would also be used to execute infrastructural and social projects, these would include project such as: a solar powered borehole to bring safe drinking water to the people; a well equipped and properly staffed health centre; acquisition and sale of bicycles to cooperative members https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_poverty_reduction; acquisition and sale of solar powered light products to cooperative members https://www.lightingglobal.org/where-we-work/humanitarian/; refurbishment/construction of primary school where the teachers are provided proper training and undertake to ensure that the pupils achieve clear learning outcomes at every stage of the academic journey, and that all graduating pupils gain admission into unity schools across the nation.
The list can go on and on, once the funds keep coming in. This was the pattern that the Marketing Boards used in bringing about the development that the Regional government accomplished during the first republic, and which can be used to fund the development that we need across the country today, but which the state and federal governments do not presently have the wherewithal to finance with the crash in international crude oil prices.
Oyewole, T Mr.