By Innocent Anaba

The Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere,  has reiterated the commitment of oil producing states to work with development partners to lift indigent Nigerians of Niger Delta extraction out of poverty.

Madumere gave the assurance when he received the team leader of the Market Development in the Niger Delta (MADE), Mr. Tunde Oderinde, who was in the state to officially launch the N80 million Technology Adoption Grant (TAG) to support palm oil processing, fish smoking and improve harvesting technologies in the region.

He said the nine Niger Delta states-Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers are ready to work with development partners, especially DFID to alleviate poverty in the region.

He said it was for this reason that the Imo government  mandated the state’s Directorate for Employment and Job Creation to always work closely with stakeholders to ensure that benefitting local governments and communities reap maximum gains from all interventions.

The Team Leader of MADE, Mr. Tunde Oderinde said the launch of     the N80 million Technology Adoption Grant (TAG), was meant to serve as intervention aimed at stimulating performance in select agriculture value chains in the Niger Delta.