Lagos State Fadama Coordination Office Request Expression of Interest for the Third National Fadama Development Project (Fadama III), as the Fadama Information and Services (FIKS) Officer.

This Request for Expression of Interest follows the General Procurement Notice for this project that appeared in Development Business No. 637 and Daily Trust Newspaper of Nigeria of 3rd July, 2009.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has received a Grant from the International Development Association (IDA) to finance the cost of development of Fadama information and knowledge services (FIKS) in Cross River, Lagos, Sokoto and Yobe states and intends to apply part of the proceeds of this grant to payments under the contract for engagement of four FIKS administrators.

Lagos State Fadama Coordination Office Request Expression of Interest for the Third National Fadama Development Project (Fadama III) as the Fadama Information and Services (FIKS) Officer

The Project is to establish sustainable, Fadama Information, Knowledge and business advisory services centres to increase farm productivity and household incomes in the poorest sections of the Fadama Community in the four States over a four year period using a variety of Information and Communication Technologies. Lagos State, being one of the benefitting States has established the centres with the required equipments located at Odogunyan community, Ikorodu LGA. The project requires being fully operational because there is popular demand from over 25,000 farmers in the State who have been registered and are receiving seasonal information on various crops via the FIKs mobile platform.

The Lagos State Fadama Coordination Office (SFCO) now invites qualified individuals to indicate their interest in serving as the FIKS Officer. Interested individual must provide information indicating that he/she is qualified to perform the services. Consequently, the individual should submit along with his/her written application current Curriculum Vitae highlighting the following:

• Educational and professional qualifications;
• Description of similar assignments carried out in the past;
• Nature of the assignments, locations and dates; and
• Evidence that he/she is familiar with local environment of Odogunyan community
• Any other relevant information;

Key Functions Expected to Be Performed by the FIKS Officer Include:

• Create a platform for on-line registry of agricultural advisory exports, data and knowledge database. Local content to include production information for key crops, product market specification, database of useful contacts of agribusiness buyers, input suppliers and transporters;
• Continuous uploading and updating of farmers information into the platform to reach critical mass to go live with the system;
• Work with the extension agents to design messages that are meaningful for farmers;
• Liaising with network service providers to push pro and post season messages to farmers during times that coincides with the farmers’ free hours;
• Develop business model that can be adopted at the centres to provide source of revenue and guaranteeing sustainability of the centres;
• Alignment of the established database with the national e-wallet scheme and the extension services programme of the ADP;
• Linkage of the centre with relevant research institutions, NGOs and universities to source locally relevant information in a timely manner;
• Build the capacity of the community to manage and maintain the FIKS centre on expiration of his/her tenure;
• Produce periodic and/or ad-hoc reports on progress and challenges at the FIKS centres

Qualifications

• Minimum of University Masters Degree in Agriculture;
• Candidate must be a certified IT/ICT practitioner (must provide evidence of competency and skills in ICT, networking, software, etc;
• Minimum 5 years work experience in Agriculture and Rural Development;
• Experience in conducting the social related ICT studies
• Proven very good communication skills with government and community members;
• High analytical and conceptual skills and ability;
• Fluency in English (written and spoken), knowledge of other local languages spoken in the area where the FIKS centre is located will be required;
• Good knowledge of the local environment in the State of interest; Ability to work within the Nigerian and multicultural environment.

Method of Selection
The FIKS Officer would be competitively selected. Only shortlisted candidate shall be invited for further assessment/interview.

Duration of the Assignment
Selected candidate would be engaged for a period not exceeding six (6) months
Interested and qualified applicant may obtain further information at the address below from 9:00am to 4:00pm hours.

Method of Submission
Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below before the closing date of this publication:

State Project Coordinator
Third National Fadama Development Project
State Fadama Coordination Office (SFCO)
ADP Complex, Old Abeokuta Motor Road,
Oko -Oba, Agege
Tel: 08023189550, 08033857157
E-mail: lagosfadama@yahoo.com

Closing date: 14th March, 2014

Please note:

• Late submission will not be accepted.