Niger ACReSAL opens bid for procurement of Low Hanging Fruits Seedlings.
By Maiwada Bala
Niger State Government has reiterated commitment to curbing environmental degradation through ACReSAL World Bank assisted Project to boost agricultural production in the State.
This was disclosed by the Chairman State Steering Committee, Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) and Permanent Secretary Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Engineer Lucky Barau during bid opening for the procurement of Low Hanging Fruits Seedlings in Minna recently.
Engineer Barau said One Hundred and Twenty Eight Thousand Nigerlites will benefit from the exercise adding that the Seedlings would be planted on 200-hectare of graded farm land with Two Hundred Thousand beneficiaries.
He described Niger as an agrarian State that have huge potential of contributing handsomely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country stressing that ACReSAL, as a World Bank Project was poised to exploring the huge agricultural potential of the Semi-Arid Landscapes of the State for the socio-economic well-being of the rural communities.
The Permanent Secretary pointed out that whichever Company that emerge victorious at the end of the bidding exercise, must execute the job in accordance with specified quality and credibility emphasising that anything short of standard will be unacceptable.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Idris Usman Gbogan represented by a Director in the Ministry underscored the importance of planting viable seedlings in agricultural practice.
He appealed to the bidders to ensure only standard and viable Seedlings are supplied stressing that the success of the exercise depends largely on the selection of viable Seedlings for the low Hanging Fruits production.
Earlier the State Project Cordinator, ACReSAL, Usman Garba Ibeto pointed out that ACReSAL issued Twenty Five bids including five different Lots on afforestation programme adding that the essence of the exercise was to reclaim degraded landsn caused by gully erosion to boost agriculture in the State.
He said at the end of the exercise 750-hectare of degraded land will be covered by planting of economic trees.
The Project Cordinator expressed confidence that the next line of action will feature the screening and appraisal of the Twenty bid documents presented by the bidders.
In the same vein, Alhaji Olalekan Abdulsalam from Roboza General Investment spoke on behalf of other bidders.
He described the bidding process as satisfactory, fair and transparent.
Abdulsalam expressed confidence that he was hopeful that his Company will emerge winner of the bidding exercise.
Dignitaries at the event include representatives of Ministries of Water Resources and Dams Development, State Planning Commission among others.
