Lagos — Agricultural sector in Akwa Ibom State is to receive a boost by 2010 as the state government plans to spend over N20billion on the sector.

Governor Obong Gods-will Akpabio of the state while speaking with journalists at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos said that next year's budget will address key areas of infrastructure upgrade in the South South State as well as other areas of socio-economic development.

According to him, the budget will also address development projects in the state ranging from massive construction of roads, building of bridges and renovation of hospitals.

The governor said: "In agriculture, we are spending nothing less than N20 billion next year and we will ensure that the money is judiciously used for that purpose."

He said: "For me, it is agriculture. I'm going to place a lot of emphasis on agriculture and that is mainly to address food insufficiency not only in the state but in the country as a whole. It is also a way of encouraging employment opportunities for the Akwa Ibom people. I sent a team to visit Indonesia, Malaysia and Israel and they came back with a lot of results. We are now strategizing on how we can ensure that 2010 budget focuses more on agriculture than any other sector in order to encourage employment opportunities and engage more youths for the development of the state".

Akpabio added that: "At the same time, I call it a budget of consolidation. By 2010, I would have spent three years as a governor of Akwa Ibom state. So, things I started in the first year, particularly road construction, bridges, flyovers and hospitals, those things really should be consolidated in the 2010 budget to ensure that they are completed so that by the time you are going into your final tenure commencing from June 2010, you are now cruising and no longer worry. By then, you are now starting to see the report card.

He further said: "To improve other areas, one of course is the area of tourism and the second one is in the area of Internal Generated Revenue(IGR). We are building what we call Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) at the airport. We are hoping this would be completed in 2010 and of course as you service aircraft there, we save foreign exchange for Nigeria and at the same time, we generate a lot of internally generated revenue for Akwa Ibom State. Then, in the area of tourism, the Ibom tourism tour resort is now going to receive a major boom because it's easy now for investors and for players who want to come down and enjoy leisure to fly in from outside the country and come directly to Uyo and play golf.

Akpabio further stressed, "The bad roads that we used to experience between Uyo and Calabar that suffering is now eliminated; I'm working very hard to complete the dualisation of one of the arm of the road right from the airport to the state capital. So, in terms of tourism, I think it is going to boost our revenue."