WorldStage Newsonline– The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) has been asked to resuscitate the abandoned rice mill it initiated at Mbiabet Ikpe in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
The lawmaker representing Ini constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Lawrence Udoide made the request in a motion during plenary.
The motion was titled “An Urgent Call on the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC to Revive the Rice Mill at Mbiabet Ikpe in Ini Local Governnment Area of Akwa Ibom State.”
The lawmaker said that the Mill became a dashed hope when NDDC abandoned it in 2009 soon after it was test run.
He lamented that the premises was now an abode of reptiles and other wild animals.
The Motion, which was in pursuant to Order 111 of the seventh edition of Rule 1 of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, was moved to apprise the House with the resources of fertile land good for rice farming that Mbiabet Ikpe was blessed.
Udoide noted in the motion that Mbiabet people were predominantly rice farmers- and which was the reason NDDC captured the group of villages as rice cultivating area.
He recalled that the NDDC donated improved seedlings to farmers and in 2008, constructed the Rice Mill a year after.
The motion further emphasized that the Mill brought joy and hope to the expectant farmers who till date were still using traditional methods to process their rice due to the abandonment of the Mill by the Commission.
Udoide lamented that several attempts by host communities to prevail on NDDC to revive the Mill had been abortive, adding that the mill was lying waste.
The Lawmaker expressed disappointment that a project of that magnitude, constructed with tax payers money, was allowed to waste at the critical moment of the economy when the Mill would have provided employment opportunities to hundreds of unemployed youths within and outside the local government area, and by so doing put food on a lot of tables in the state.
The lawmaker urged the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to mandate the House Committee on NDDC to summon the Commissioner representing Akwa Ibom State in NDDC to appear before the House to inform members of the plan of the Commission regarding the Rice Mill.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon Elder Udeme Otong referred the motion to the house Committee on NDDC to interact with the Commission and report back to the house in two weeks.
