By Modey Peters
May 9, 2011 02:14AM
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It was meant to be a private visit, with relaxation at the top on the agenda. But the seven-day stay of President Goodluck Jonathan at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Cross River State quickly became loaded with a busy daily schedule.

When Mr Jonathan left Abuja penultimate Friday for the resort, located high in the Obudu mountain range of Cross River State, to soothe frayed nerves after the arduous presidential election, attending to lobbyists and businessmen must have been far from his mind.

But two days into his stay on the hills, located in Obanliku local government area of the state, politicians, contractors and businesspersons desperate to gain his favour, quickly relocated to the plateau, in pursuit of the president. Thus Mr Jonathan was torn between sticking to the planned retreat with his aides and meeting with the army of visitors itching to attract his ear. All this affected his relaxation time as he had to work late into the night.

His wife, Patience, was not left out. She also kept a busy schedule as people thronged the resort to see her, partly as a way of gaining access to her husband.

Business mogul Femi Otedola was the most prominent person from the business community to hop along to what is being called Nigeria's ‘Camp David' to meet the president. Some national officers of the president's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were not left out. According to senior member of the PDP in Cross River State, they came to discuss the shape of the new government, including the composition of the new federal cabinet, zoning of key national assembly offices, among other issues.

The influx of visitors over-stretched the security aides attached to the president who had to cordon off the presidential lodge, located at the highest point of the mountain, to make it difficult for some of the uninvited visitors to get to see the president.

Consequently, the ranch's International Conference Centre became a strategic point where the visitors jostled for a vantage position to attract the attention of Mr Jonathan whenever he showed up.

Mrs Jonathan was similarly engaged. In-between attending to visitors and taking time off, her host and wife of the Cross River State governor, Obioma Liyel Imoke, nudged her to venture out around the resort to sample its allure. They had a ride on the cable car, visited a grotto and farms, a sanctuary for birds, a canopy walkway and meet with the local Utanga women.

Particularly, Mrs Imoke took her guest to meet with members of the twelve registered Partnership Opportunities for Women Economic Realisation [POWER] cooperative societies and the beneficiaries of the programme's micro-credit scheme in Obanliku local government area of the state.

With Pelebo Banigo, wife of former minister of science, Ebitimi Banigo, in tow, the ladies visited vegetable farms cultivated by women farmers of Kigol village in the Obudu Mountain Resort area.

With women farmers

Mrs Jonathan, ever on the lookout for a female audience, took time to interact with the rural women. She commended them for voting for her husband in the April 16 presidential polls.

"Agriculture is very important in Nigeria and we want more rural women to embrace farming in order to better the lot of their families," she said, promising that the present government would give more support to agriculture in the country.

She expressed pleasure at the production efforts of the women of POWER, who cultivate large farms where they grow tea, strawberries, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, green peas, watermelon, zucchinis, Irish potatoes, mint, spring onions and rhubarb mallows, among others.

During the farm inspection, Mrs Jonathan transplanted cabbage seedlings, carried out cultivation of carrot seeds and harvested ready-to-eat cabbage and marrow. She made a private donation to the women farmers to encourage them and also promised to provide them with seedlings and other inputs in order to increase their vegetable production.

Mrs Imoke, who is the executive director of POWER, commended the women for putting to judicious use the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) micro-credit loans guaranteed to enable women farmers become self-reliant. While carrying out a symbolic planting at a vegetable farm, she pointed out that the vegetable farms on the ranch were carried out without artificial fertiliser.

"We encourage all to enjoy the health benefits attached to organically produced vegetable from the Obudu Mountain Resort," Mrs Imoke said.

The special assistant to the governor on food processing, packaging and marketing, Anthony Ubi, said the major objective of the POWER initiative was to "put money in the hands of women," adding that the market development efforts of POWER as well as the ongoing production of temperate vegetables in the resort, was geared towards conferring the status of viability on the registered cooperatives in the ranch.

Mr Ibi said efforts have begun to train bee farmers in the areas. "The training of bee farmers in the region is to improve funding access for Cross River State women via the CBN's micro-credit scheme," he said.

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mbulela:

By Modey Peters
May 9, 2011 02:14AM
print  email   


It was meant to be a private visit, with relaxation at the top on the agenda. But the seven-day stay of President Goodluck Jonathan at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Cross River State quickly became loaded with a busy daily schedule.

When Mr Jonathan left Abuja penultimate Friday for the resort, located high in the Obudu mountain range of Cross River State, to soothe frayed nerves after the arduous presidential election, attending to lobbyists and businessmen must have been far from his mind.

But two days into his stay on the hills, located in Obanliku local government area of the state, politicians, contractors and businesspersons desperate to gain his favour, quickly relocated to the plateau, in pursuit of the president. Thus Mr Jonathan was torn between sticking to the planned retreat with his aides and meeting with the army of visitors itching to attract his ear. All this affected his relaxation time as he had to work late into the night.

His wife, Patience, was not left out. She also kept a busy schedule as people thronged the resort to see her, partly as a way of gaining access to her husband.

Business mogul Femi Otedola was the most prominent person from the business community to hop along to what is being called Nigeria's ‘Camp David' to meet the president. Some national officers of the president's Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were not left out. According to senior member of the PDP in Cross River State, they came to discuss the shape of the new government, including the composition of the new federal cabinet, zoning of key national assembly offices, among other issues.

The influx of visitors over-stretched the security aides attached to the president who had to cordon off the presidential lodge, located at the highest point of the mountain, to make it difficult for some of the uninvited visitors to get to see the president.

Consequently, the ranch's International Conference Centre became a strategic point where the visitors jostled for a vantage position to attract the attention of Mr Jonathan whenever he showed up.

Mrs Jonathan was similarly engaged. In-between attending to visitors and taking time off, her host and wife of the Cross River State governor, Obioma Liyel Imoke, nudged her to venture out around the resort to sample its allure. They had a ride on the cable car, visited a grotto and farms, a sanctuary for birds, a canopy walkway and meet with the local Utanga women.

Particularly, Mrs Imoke took her guest to meet with members of the twelve registered Partnership Opportunities for Women Economic Realisation [POWER] cooperative societies and the beneficiaries of the programme's micro-credit scheme in Obanliku local government area of the state.

With Pelebo Banigo, wife of former minister of science, Ebitimi Banigo, in tow, the ladies visited vegetable farms cultivated by women farmers of Kigol village in the Obudu Mountain Resort area.

With women farmers

Mrs Jonathan, ever on the lookout for a female audience, took time to interact with the rural women. She commended them for voting for her husband in the April 16 presidential polls.

"Agriculture is very important in Nigeria and we want more rural women to embrace farming in order to better the lot of their families," she said, promising that the present government would give more support to agriculture in the country.

She expressed pleasure at the production efforts of the women of POWER, who cultivate large farms where they grow tea, strawberries, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, green peas, watermelon, zucchinis, Irish potatoes, mint, spring onions and rhubarb mallows, among others.

During the farm inspection, Mrs Jonathan transplanted cabbage seedlings, carried out cultivation of carrot seeds and harvested ready-to-eat cabbage and marrow. She made a private donation to the women farmers to encourage them and also promised to provide them with seedlings and other inputs in order to increase their vegetable production.

Mrs Imoke, who is the executive director of POWER, commended the women for putting to judicious use the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) micro-credit loans guaranteed to enable women farmers become self-reliant. While carrying out a symbolic planting at a vegetable farm, she pointed out that the vegetable farms on the ranch were carried out without artificial fertiliser.

"We encourage all to enjoy the health benefits attached to organically produced vegetable from the Obudu Mountain Resort," Mrs Imoke said.

The special assistant to the governor on food processing, packaging and marketing, Anthony Ubi, said the major objective of the POWER initiative was to "put money in the hands of women," adding that the market development efforts of POWER as well as the ongoing production of temperate vegetables in the resort, was geared towards conferring the status of viability on the registered cooperatives in the ranch.

Mr Ibi said efforts have begun to train bee farmers in the areas. "The training of bee farmers in the region is to improve funding access for Cross River State women via the CBN's micro-credit scheme," he said.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5698487-146/story.csp

i trust otedola - time to get some govt patronage - the only way his business can survive . it was objs influence that allowed the Arrow to floss back in 06 with his dubious diesel direct stations fresh air indeed

abeg gej, go easy on this aba made obama clone thingy, what with the wind of hope book, the facebooking, and now your wife imitating micheele obama (with the gardening she witnessed during her visit last year)

what next, will we see patience on nigerian sesame street

these people should allow Mr. President to rest for God's sake, dem wan kill am?

Taking cue from the popular saying that your willingness to listen to everybody and your preparedness to listen to nobody determines your success and failure in life. This assertion underscores to current situation of Mr President as he allows lobbyists to hijack is vacation at Obudu. Expectedly, President Johanathan should not be a weakling or puppet President whose direction of his government will be determined by sycophant and favour seekers surrounding him. I advise him to live up to the expectation of the electorate that gave their mandate to him, by preventing the economic superpowers vis-a-vis the political gladiators in the country to sabotage his government plans.