Anambra Agric Ministry Sensitises Stakeholders on FRILIA Program, Seeks Support

By Praise Chinecherem

Anambra State Government has solicited stakeholders support to educate the citizenry on the features of Frame Work For Responsible And Inclusive Land- Intensive Agricultural Investment (FRILIA)

FRILIA is a public- private sector- community driven initiative aimed at facilitating ease of doing business in the agricultural sector, aligning it with global best practices

Participants at the sensitisation program held at Ministry of Agriculture, Awka, included Heads of Agric Department, Traditional Rulers, Anambra State Investment, Promotion and Protection Agency, Representatives from line MDA’S including Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, amongst others

Speaking during the event, Commissioner For Agriculture, Dr Forster Ihejiofor, described FRILIA as impact focused and structured to protect interest of all stakeholders, investors, communities, farmers and government.

According to him, it represents an important step in ensuring progress towards building a stronger, more resilient investment in the agricultural sector.

He explained that the idea was conceived to create a sustainable and safe environment where the potential benefits of the initiative would be maximized.

“FRILIA is to tackle all known and foreseeable challenges people face while wanting to invest in agriculture.The idea is to make sure that those who need access to land don’t face the usual problems, suspicion and resistance.

“When the principles of FRILIA are applied, families, individuals can aggregate land, communities can make land available and government can also acquire land following those principles for large scale commercial agriculture.

“It has been structured to ensure that agricultural investment is sustainable.It is a design that should give everybody peace and of course that translates to ease of doing business” he said

Unveiling the toolkits of the initiative, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture,Mrs Ifenyinwa Uzoka, urged the critical stakeholders to support and deepen the initiative to grassroots.

“We are all here to ensure that we as stakeholders are aware of the need to do a public sensitisation, that we want to improve the ease of doing business.

“We want Anambra State to be the first choice in the nation in ease of doing business to benefit everybody”

She added that the initiative has ushered in a new era of possibilities for enhancing agricultural productivity, investment opportunities and driving socio economic development.

Stakeholders at the engagement meeting, including, Dr Christy Akabua, FRILIA State Focal Person, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, described the program as a major step forward in facilitating public enlightenment and engagement.

She said it was important that participants be enlightened on the features and toolkits of the FRILIA initiative so as to bridge expected gaps.

On her part, Vivian Eduzor, Head Public Private Partnership (PPP) Department, Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSSIPA), underscored the importance
of carrying every stakeholder along in the implementation of the initiative.

” FRILIA is all about good representation of the community, good representation of the investor and good representation of the state.

“Our toolkits tells you what your right is and how to go about chanelling your complaints if you have any. It is just all about making sure that everybody’s interest aligns when an agricultural investment is on-going” Eduzor said

The event featured an interactive session where concerns raised by the participants were addressed accordingly by the organisers.

Traditional Rulers of Umumbo and Omasi Communities of Ayamelum Local Government Area, Igwe Simeon Chudubem and Igwe Benjamin Okeji respectively attended the program.