The World Bank has expressed satisfaction over the
implementation of $215 million Additional Financing (AF) of the Community and
Social Development Projects (CSDP) in Nigeria.
World Bank Lead Specialist, Social Protection and
Labour, Abuja, Mr. Foluso Okunmadewa made this known in Abuja at a two-day
retreat organised for supervisory ministries and Board of Directors of the
Community and Social Development Agencies.
According to him, “the World Bank is excited on the
implementation of the initial project in the 26 States where it was implemented
and now on the continuity of the community development projects and poverty
eradication programmes by the states.
“We are also happy with the handlers and
supervisors of the projects and the World Bank is sustaining the projects due
to the conviction of the successes recorded. This can be improved upon to make
it better and be beneficial to larger numbers of people. The managers of the
project should be up and doing to ensure the success of the project.”
The additional $215m brings the total World Bank
project to $415m after the initial $200m spent for the first phase of the
project between 2009 and 2015.
Earlier, the National Coordinator, CSDA, Dr.
Abdulkarim Obaje, decried the non-adherence to the use of approved poverty map
by Local governments in the implementation of community development
projects.
He revealed that CDSP commenced in 2009 and had
recorded remarkable successes and challenges, stressing that the positive
effects and influences on the participating communities in all the
participating States had culminated in the Additional Finance (AF) and
expression of interest to participate in the project by more States.
According to him, “the challenges of bridging
inequalities in the country remain a major puzzle for policy makers. Nigeria
has 774 local governments and 9572 political wards with hundreds of community
settlements requiring one type of social and natural resource infrastructure
service or another.
Our capacity as a nation to satisfy these
communities has been undermined by the declining revenue from the government at
all levels. This calls for strategic partnership between all the tiers of
government with the development partners.”
He explained that, “original CSDP commenced
in 2009 and closed in 2015. 98% of the total credit of $200 million was
drawn-down from the implementing States and federal government.
“2,729 out of 3,220 Community Development
Plans (CDPs)representing about 84% of the total CDPs reviewed by the Local
Government Review Committees (LGRCs) were approved and funded from the credit.
“Also, out of 7,954 Micro Projects (MPs)
contained in the approved CDPs, 6,554 representing about 82% were fully
completed while 6,456, representing about 99% of the completed MPs were made
functional as at the time of the formal project closure of the original CSDP on
30th September, 2015,” Obaje added.
He stated that some challenges facing CSDA
include; slow pace of implementation of 2017 budget across the States, delay in
government contribution by some States, delay in constitution of Boards of the
agencies, frequent shufflement of local government executives among
others.
Obaje suggested among others that, “States should
demonstrate greater commitment to the project by timely payment of the
government contribution and setting up the boards in line with law setting up
the agencies.
“The use of the approved poverty map should be
prioritised and the board should ensure that the Special Assistants are
implementing community development projects based on map and in the Focal local
government areas.”
The retreat was meant to update participants on the
status of project implementation under the CSDP-AF, the implementation
challenges and ways of strengthening the CSDP system nationally.
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