Wike Commends JICA, Pledges More Collaboration

By: Wisdom Acka

FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has hailed Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA) for carrying out projects in Nigeria that has direct bearing on the lives of the citizenry.

The Minister made this commendation while JICA officials paid him a visit in his office, Tuesday.

Wike assured that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) was committed to meeting its obligations as regards projects undertaken by international organizations, including JICA.

His words: “The activities of JICA in agriculture particularly, that deals with nutrition is highly commendable as well as the training it will be having for our mothers for the sake of our children in making sure our children have nutritious foods that will aid their health, is greatly appreciated.”

“Most of your projects you have completed particularly in the area of portable water, we believe we can still sustain our relationship by making sure that we put more efforts to see all the activities lined up are completed within the scheduled time frame”, he said.

“We on our part will do all we can to see that we fulfill our own obligations too in matching your own support. Your activities are quite wide, spread all over the country and we sincerely commend you. You have been a serious organization and your relationship with Nigeria is quite solid,” Wike added.

The Minister stated that JICA was not one of those international organizations that only made promises without fulfilling them, even as he expressed confidence in its capacity, promising “to do more for us, so this Administration is willing to cooperate with you more.

“We would like to achieve more for our people so on behalf of the FCT, we sincerely welcome you and we believe that our relationship will continue to grow,” he stressed.

Wike also pledged: “We will continue to partner with you in training our teachers in areas that we believe will require most, so we will also be happy that the training should not only be concentrated just here. We hope you can continue to train our teachers in science and mathematics.”

Earlier, Chief Representative of JICA in Nigeria, Yuzurio Susumu, reiterated the agency’s commitment to capacity building for FCT staff and promising young individuals.

He emphasized JICA’s longstanding collaboration with the government in sustainable economic development and its integral role in the development of the Abuja urban master plan.