THE Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, on
Monday, said the European Union (EU) had started the execution of
various micro projects valued at 71.50 million euro in the nine states
in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
He said the EU provided 45.5 million euro out of the cost of the
projects, while the beneficiary communities provided the balance of 26
million euro.
Speaking at a ceremony to officially inaugurate the MPP9 projects in
Akure, the minister said the projects include palm oil processing mill,
markets, health centres, industrial boreholes, blocks of classrooms and
civic centres among others.
He noted that the MPP9 was an European Union-Federal Government
intervention programme covering the nine Niger Delta states of Abia,
Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and Rivers.
He said the MPP9 was designed to work with reform minded local
governments, where the authorities were interested in cooperating and
implementing the micro-projects in a transparent and consultative way.
Usman said: “The projects are aimed at reducing poverty in the rural
and sub-urban communities in the region through the promotion of gender
equality and participation in local governance and development.
“It will also enhance transparency and accountability in local
government administration, provision of more access to basic health
facilities, education, water supply, sanitation and roads among others.”
Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, pledged that his
administration would collaborate with the beneficiary communities and
the contractors to ensure the completion of the projects on time and to
set machineries in motion to sustain them.
He said his administration had executed 425 projects in over 300
communities across the state in the last three years at a cost of over
N3 billion.
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