By Abdul-Kadir Abdullah and Osaigbovo Frank Okundia
The Edo State Framework for Responsible and Inclusive Land-Intensive Agricultural Investments (FRILIA) Technical Committee has expressed its readiness to achieve the remaining Disbursement Link Indicator (DLI) Verification Protocol targets for the year under consideration.
The Committee’s resolve was disclosed by the Secretary of the FRILIA Technical committee and Head of Agric Services and Extension Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. David Ogunbor, after a stakeholders’ meeting at the Agric Hub in Benin City, which was to finalize strategies towards achieving its objectives.
According to Mr. Ogunbor, the focus of the meeting was to review progress and come up with actionable strategies in meeting the December, 2024 deadline. He disclosed that the implementation of FRILIA is DLI linked and a World Bank assisted State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme.
Mr. Ogunbor stated, “We need to ensure that we meet the deadline of 31st December 2024. The Grievance Redress Mechanism Committee (GRM) needs to be activated and a meeting of committee members conveyed as soon as possible to work on and complete the domestication of the toolkit for submission.
“A meeting with key actors like the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Sustainability, who is the Secretary to the GRM and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice is apt.
A key focus is to get the GRM to attend to the toolkits accordingly which is meant to address concerns arising from envisaged disputes from land acquisition and land use for agricultural purposes”.
By successfully meeting the DLIs’ targets under the FRILIA SABER programme, Edo State aims to solidify its position as a leading state in land investment, thereby spurring agricultural development and sustainability in the State and Nigeria at large.
