Archibong, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Calabar said that the festival was billed to hold on Sept. 30 in Ogoja Local Government Area of the state.

She said the festival, an initiative of Gov. Ben Ayade, was designed to enhance culture and tourism to also showcase the rich agricultural produce of the people of Northern Senatorial District of the state.

“The Northern Senatorial District is endowed with rich agricultural produce hence the need to have a central date set aside to celebrate such produce.

“NorthFest is an initiative of the governor. The festival is meant to expose the rich agro base of the people of Northern Senatorial District.

“The festival is also a celebration that seeks to find relevance to the way of life of the people and we have taken every last Saturday of every year for the celebration.

“The content of the festival is meant to showcase the richness of the state in terms of agriculture,’’ she said.

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She listed the activities lined up for the programme to include best farmer competition, traditional dance competition, parade of age grade, palm wine competition, novelty match, among others.

The commissioner said that the festival had been planned to meet international standard, adding that it would also enable the state government to key into the agricultural revolution of the Federal Government.