The Cross River Head of Service (HOS), Mr Timothy Akwaji, on Tuesday, pledged support for the implementation of the Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus, (NG-CARES), in the state.
Akwaji pledged the support when the Chairman, Cross River Community and Social Development Agency, (CRSCSDA) Mr Toni Ikpeme, and his team paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Calabar.
The HOS said with the coming on board of the Program-for-Results (P4R) the World Bank funded NG-CARES project, was sure that through the CRSCSDA, more developmental projects would get to the rural areas in the state.
“I am sure that the agency would lead other development platforms towards ensuring that micro infrastructural interventions are achieved in all nooks and crannies of the state.
“I am particularly proud of the Agency as they understand their assignment of taking governance to the grassroots and placing its signature in almost every rural community in the state,” he said.
He added that he believes with more development in the rural areas, the state government would be on a pedestal to draw more funds from the World Bank through the CRSCSDA for developmental purposes.
On his part, Chairman of CRSCSDA, Mr Ikpeme, said that the little the Agency had gathered, would be used to lift the state from the doldrums of poverty to prosperity as their work in the communities progressed.
He added that the Agency would not fail to seek Akwaji’s expertise on rural development interventions when the need arose.
He also thanked Gov. Ben Ayade for appointing a proven bureaucrat whose leadership quality had been tested in the civil service.