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Showing posts with label Pledge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pledge. Show all posts

Friday, November 3, 2017

FG, States pledge matching fund for rural sanitation, promotion


The Federal Government and some implementing states have committed to a matching fund of $5million as counterpart contribution to the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN), reports NaijaAgroNet.

Director, Press and Public Relations Unit, Margaret E. Umoh, in a press statement available to NaijaAgroNet, said that Nigeria secured the grant for the project through the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), which is a coalition of relevant government ministries, departments and agencies, development partners and civil society organisations working in the sanitation sub-sector.

The Honourable Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, was quoted as saying this during the meeting with State Governors on the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) in Abuja.

“As we are all aware, access to improved sanitation in Nigeria has declined over time. As a result, there are over 70 million people without access to improve sanitation and more than 45 million 
people practicing open defecation in Nigeria,” he said.

Recognizing the public health risk, he pointed out that the Federal Government called on states and development partners to invest in the water, sanitation and hygiene sub-sector as Federal Government cannot fund it all alone.

Adamu said further that the RUSHPIN project which is going on in 6 Local Government Areas of Benue and Cross River States is a good example of government’s efforts in mobilizing resources to the sector in view of the limited resources available.
The Minister added that the Federal Government through the instrument of Partnership for Expanded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) programme and the roadmap of ending open defecation by 2025 in the country, has demonstrated commitment in addressing the issues of water, sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria.

Adamu thanked the Executive Director of Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Dr. Chris Williams for the support given to Nigeria through the Global Sanitation Fund grant. While thanking Ondo and Sokoto States for their interest in the RUSHPIN project, he called on other states to key into the project as investing in water, sanitation and hygiene would protect the health of the people.

Present at the meeting were the governors of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

Responding, the Executive Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom said that in conjunction with the Federal Government, Benue State has paid 5million into the RUSHPIN Project in the state. While his counterpart from Sokoto, Aminu Tambuwal said that the state counterpart fund will be captured in the 2018 budget proposal. The Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu said that the issue of open defecation in the state is a big challenge, and that they are ready to partner with the Federal Government and other development partners in addressing the issue.

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Monday, November 5, 2012

IFAD projects in Yemen worth $230m

Nwanze, IFAD President

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has valued its projects in the west Asian country of Yemen to the tune of $230million, about N36.19 billion.
The United Nations’ specialised agency’s recent pledge to support agriculture and rural development in Yemen to the tune of $41million, brings the total investments in the country’s projects to $230million, as at September 2012
Of the total sum, $130 million was co-financed from domestic sources and the rest by external financiers, such as the European Union, International sDB and World Bank.
NaijaAgroNet recalls that some of the previous projects co-financed by IFAD in the Asian country include a $32.9, about N5.17billion Fisheries Investment Project in 2010, a project which benefited small-scale fishers, their associations as well as poor households that want to engage in aquaculture.
IFAD came up with the Fisheries investment project in a bid to improve the economic status of small-scale fishers through the creation of sustainable and diversified economic opportunities for poor women and men alike with special focus on the development of value chain development.
One of the numerous projects that sum IFAD’s financial commitment to N36.19billion includes the Economic Opportunities Programme early in 2010, which seek to create economic opportunities for the rural poor while working with Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to significantly reduce poverty.
The economic opportunities programme, NaijaAgroNet further gathered also assisted landless households to develop the value chains for coffee, honey and horticulture products, being the three high-value agriculture commodities for some of the selected areas for the project.
IFAD in collaboration with the Government of Yemen introduced a private-sector-led approach to development operations with the economic opportunities programme.
The programme also established a private-public partnership to effectively, efficiently and transparently manage development resources and create synergies, whilst women constituted the key target group for the micro-business.
NaijaAgroNet equally gathered that projects by IFAD in Yemen have supported more than 1.2 million poor women and men alike, helping them build resilience to shocks and conflict, and at the same time improving their household food security and incomes.
However, the new pledge by IFAD will also allow the scaling up of successful investments to cater for additional communities and introduce innovations with the IFAD supported country programmes.
The investments according to IFAD are expected to stimulate rural economic growth and job creation for additional one million poor women and men in the rural areas.
Yemen was one of the first countries to receive financing from the UN specialized agency at the early period of its establishment.
IFAD as an international financial institution created in 1977 as a result of the outcome of the 1974 World Food Conference with the aim of financing agricultural development projects targeted at food production in developing countries, has since inception being working towards the eradication of poverty and food insecurity in developing nations of the world.


Yinka Awosanya
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