Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has announced plans to kick-start oil palm business with the planting of new varieties to boost agribusiness and revive the sector.

He said the State Committee on Food Security had recommended a template which involves the distribution of improved seedlings, deployment of extension officers in the planting, establishment of oil palm board and the off-taking of processed oil from different producers.

The governor, who had served as the Executive Director of Agriculture Investment at the Akwa Ibom State Investment Corporation, AKICORP, said the initiative was a way of putting money in the hands of the citizenry as the improved seedlings has high yield capacity and fruits within two years.

He said Akwa Ibom had declined from number one to number four in oil palm production and needed to take back its pride of place. Governor Eno urged the youths to take advantage of the different job opportunities in the State, and to desist from complaining about lack of jobs.

“Let our young people stop complaining that there are no jobs. Right now, we are building over 305 houses across this State, and our young people are being engaged and employed. Please find something to do,” he said.

He used the opportunity to clear the air on the empowerment for members of support groups in the State, stressing that the monies in the recently published list of support groups and beneficiaries for the different empowerment packages were not given to group heads or any member of the groups to share, but to individuals who applied through the ARISE portal and had registered members of the support groups.

He noted that his administration would continue to give business grants, saying, “What we have decided to do for next year is being worked out in our next year’s budget. We are appraising N1 billion per Local Government in our 2026 budget, plus other funds that we are going to send to the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry. The grants through this will only be obtained through the Government’s portal by those who have registered and have never gotten one before.”

The governor said his administration had made efforts to maintain peace in the State, and expressed disappointment at some high profile personalities in the State who pride themselves as members of certain cult groups and warned that the ban on cultism is still operational and defaulters would be tried accordingly.