The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) has inaugurated Solar streetlights and a borehole in two communities in Oyo state for the benefit of the people.
The communities are Adeoje/Kunola in Oluyole Local Government Area in Ibadan and Awe in Afijio Local Government Area of the state.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Mahmood Abubakar, on Thursday inaugurated the solar street lights, borehole and 15KVA generating set to power the water treatment plant for Adeoje/Kunola community.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the minister was represented at the event by Mrs Omolara Oguntuyi, Southwest Zonal Director, FMARD, while Dr Florence Kakulu, the FMARD state coordinator, inaugurated the solar powered borehole project donated to Awe community.
The minister said that the Federal Government prioritized provision of infrastructure in rural areas, which was the reason FMARD embarked on projects in rural communities across the country.
Abubakar said that the FG was constructing rural roads across the country to stop migration of people to the urban centres and also ease the burden of transporting farm produce from rural communities.
He expressed satisfaction with the quality of FMARD projects across the Southwest states and thanked the state coordinators in the zone for not compromising on standard of the work with the contractors handling the projects.
The minister further admonished the benefitting communities to ensure that the projects were maintained.
Abubakar said that a monitoring unit had been constituted to visit the project sites from time to time to see that it was put to good use.
The minister said that the borehole would provide sustainable access to safe drinking water for the people of the community.
He tasked residents of the community to ensure good maintenance of the borehole and the street lights so that they would last well.
Speaking on behalf of the communities, Anthony Ebuka, from Adeoje/Kunola community, appreciated the Federal Government for counting them worthy of the projects.
Ebuka testified that the Federal Government through FMARD had executed social infrastructure projects in various communities which had enhanced the lives of the residents in the communities.
Also Friday Agwu of Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery, Awe, where the borehole was sunk, appreciated the Federal Government for the initiative.
Agwu said the borehole and the solar streetlight projects had been of great benefits to his company and the entire community.