Commissioner calls on UNICEF to integrate capacity building

The State Commissioner of Economic Development, Dr. Emmanuel Ating Onwioduokit, has called on the United Nations Children Fund(UNICEF) to integrate capacity building into its work plan, especially for staff of the Ministry of Economic Development to enable the latter offer effective leadership and guidance to other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in matters of planning and policy formulation.
Dr. Emmanuel Onwioduokit made the call  when a joint team from the National Planning Commission, Abuja and UNICEF paid a courtesy call to him last Tuesday.

The Commissioner, who noted that capacity building is key for the process, stressed the high premium the State government places on the overall economic development, adding that with the economic inclusive agenda of the present administration, every person and sector of the economy would be catered for in one way or the other.
Dr. Onwioduokit said that already the Ministry has completed the 2016 Capital Estimate bilateral discussions, disclosing that provision has already been made for the Government Contributory Counterpart Funding in the 2016 budget.
He assured the team that the State government would provide everything needed by development partners to function effectively in the State, and that his Ministry was willing to provide direction in that regard.
The Commissioner further urged the joint team to make effective use of the technical session in order to come up with programmes and projects that will maximally benefit the people of Akwa Ibom.
In a key note address by the Secretary, National Planning Commission, Mr. Bassey Akpanyung, speaking through the Deputy Director of Social Development in the Commission, Dr. Sampson Ebimaro, said that the joint meeting was intended to enable the State benefit from UNICEF Plan priorities.
He stated that the Federal government was working assiduously to ensure that the nation’s economy becomes one of the twenty leading economies in the world by the year 2020 and believes that the social policy and social sector programmes would play critical roles in that.
Mr. Akpanyung made it known that the National Planning Commission in collaboration with international development partners was mobilizing national resources to facilitate a robust fiscal and monetary policy regime for the smooth functioning of the economy, including financing strategies that do not crowd out the private sector.
He stressed the critical roles infrastructure plays in economic development, noting that without it, a transformative development was typically impossible and also mentioned that Akwa Ibom State was a key stakeholder in the development of the Nigeria’s National Integrated Infrastructure Master plan.
Also speaking, the Social Policy Specialist, UNICEF, Enugu Field Office, Dr. Kenneth Ozoemenam, said that UNICEF was trying to realign its work plan to harmonize with state government’s plan, based on the mandate given to them by the UN General Assembly.
Dr. Ozoemenam disclosed that Akwa Ibom was selected as a Role Model State in the South – South and was, therefore, expected to provide leadership that will guide the full coverage of the other States.