The Abia State Government has announced that it will stop depending on allocation from the federal government by the year 2020 as its investments in palm oil plantations would have started yielding enough revenue to sustain it.
Abia State’s Commissioner for Information, Mr. John Okiyi said this during a chat with the members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Umuahia on March 28.
Mr. Okiyi stated said that “government has so far planted 7.7 million high-yielding Tenera Palm seedlings, which will start yielding within the next three years.”
Mr. Okiyi also said the recent ranking of the state by the National Bureau of Statistics as a middle-class state was as fair enough, though the state has not gotten to the peak yet.
He said, “Abia will not rest on its oars, but determined to break new grounds until we are able to meet our dream for Abia. It shows that Abia has not been borrowing over the years and that we have also been prudent in the management of our limited resources.”
The commissioner noted the state’s prudent spending on projects, stating that the structures are designed to last a long period of time.