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From Bimbola Oyesola
The International Labour Organization (ILO) and Nigeria’s Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) have signed an agreement to expand employment-intensive rural road maintenance systems expected to generate more than four million workdays while improving rural connectivity, market access and livelihoods across 12 Nigerian states.
Under the agreement, the ILO will provide technical assistance to support the implementation of approximately 2,400 kilometres of routine rural road maintenance and 1,200 kilometres of targeted road improvement works between February 2025 and May 2029.
The partnership is expected to generate around 1.5 million workdays through direct employment and a further 2.7 million workdays through indirect employment opportunities.
The initiative places strong emphasis on decent work, skills development and social inclusion, with targets to increase the participation of women and persons with disabilities in rural infrastructure employment.
RAAMP is one of the largest rural infrastructure and agricultural market access programmes in Nigeria and Africa, jointly financed by the World Bank, the French Development Agency (AFD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The programme aims to improve rural accessibility, strengthen agricultural value chains and support the sustainable management of rural road assets across participating states.
The agreement adds US$6.7 million in new technical assistance to an existing US$4 million ILO portfolio, bringing the total ILO technical assistance package for RAAMP to US$10.7 million. The support will help strengthen employment-intensive rural road maintenance systems across 12 states between February 2025 and May 2029.
RAAMP National Coordinator Aminu Bodinga Mohammed and ILO Country Director Dr Vanessa Phala during the signing of a partnership agreement to expand employment-intensive rural road maintenance systems across 12 states in Nigeria.
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Speaking during the signing ceremony in Abuja, RAAMP National Coordinator Aminu Bodinga Mohammed said the agreement marked an important step towards establishing sustainable road maintenance systems that deliver long-term economic and social benefits for rural communities.
“This partnership reflects our commitment to preserving rural infrastructure investments while creating jobs and strengthening livelihoods in rural communities,” he said. “Sustainable maintenance systems are essential to ensuring that rural roads continue to support agricultural production, market access and local economic growth.”
Mito Tsukamoto, Branch Chief of the ILO Employment Intensive Investment Programme (EMPINVEST), said the collaboration demonstrated how infrastructure investments can contribute to both economic development and decent job creation.
“Rural infrastructure can deliver much more than roads. When designed with people at the centre, it can create jobs, strengthen local economies and build more resilient communities,” she said. “This partnership with RAAMP reflects a shared commitment to promoting decent work through sustainable infrastructure development, while ensuring that women and other groups often excluded from infrastructure employment are included in the opportunities created.”
ILO Country Director for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Dr Vanessa Phala, highlighted the importance of linking infrastructure investment with inclusive employment and skills development.
“At the heart of this collaboration is the recognition that infrastructure development and decent work must go hand in hand,” she said. “Through employment-intensive approaches, this programme will create jobs, strengthen livelihoods and contribute to more inclusive and sustainable economic growth.”
The partnership also includes capacity development for government institutions, contractors and implementing partners to strengthen the long-term management and maintenance of rural roads.
The RAAMP Scale-Up programme is expected to rehabilitate and upgrade around 3,000 kilometres of rural roads to climate-resilient standards while supporting the maintenance of an additional 3,500 kilometres of rural road networks across participating states, helping improve access to markets, services and economic opportunities for rural communities.
