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From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
As the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) III Project winds off in Nigeria this year, the Federal Government has expressed optimism that Benue State was prepared to sustain the programme.
Head, International Corporation Department, United Nations Desk at the Federal Ministry of Budget Planning, Dr. Sanjo Faniran, gave this assurance when he led a team on a one-day working tour of Benue State to assess projects that are jointly supported by UN agencies.
Speaking with Daily Sun after the tour, Faniran, who commended the state government under the leadership of Governor Samuel Ortom for making provision for counterpart funding of the projects, however ,stressed the need for the state to live up to its responsibility of sustaining them when the donor partners eventually leaves.
“The projects are running very well because most of the problems that were identified during our last visit had been rectified except for a few areas like security and water at the IDP camp in Daudu, Guma Local Government Area and we hope that Government would rise to addressing these challenges.”
He also applauded UNDAF donor partners, under the leadership of UNICEF, for intervening in the areas such as health, education, water and sanitation among others in Nigeria in the last three years while also expressing hope that Nigeria would be considered in subsequent interventions.
In a remark, Director General/ Chief Executive Officer, Benue State Planning Commission (BSPC), Mr. Linus Ode while thanking the federal government and the donor agencies under the leadership of UNICEF maintained that the project had been largely successful because the state government had been living up to its responsibilities in promptly paying its counterpart funds.
While noting that the essence of the tour was to see whether the projects had been successful and to know other areas of intervention, Ode expressed the preparedness of the state government to take over the projects when the development partners eventually leaves.
Project sites visited include the Central Medical Store in Makurdi where vaccines are preserved in cold rooms for onward delivery to the 23 local government areas as well as the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Daudu built by UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
