ABUJA - Hajiya Amina Ibrahim, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), has called for greater participation by states and local governments in the Conditional Grant Scheme.
Ibrahim made the call in Abuja at the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
The scheme is meant for states and local governments to access funds for development through the Federal Government from debt relief savings.
Reports say that the country realises one billion dollars per annum (N116 billion) in debt service savings, following the reprieve granted it by the Paris Club in 2005.
Ibrahim noted that states and local governments could contribute to efforts to achieve the MDGs through full participation in the scheme.
She said the essence of the scheme was to foster collaboration in policy and planning among the three tiers of government through capacity building, improving human resources and financial management systems.
She said the scheme would improve accountability and transparency and enhance service delivery at all levels of government. Ibrahim noted that Benue and Kebbi were not partaking in the scheme and called for increased participation by all involved.
Rep Geofrey Gaiya, a member of the Federal House of Representatives Committee on Rural Development, said MDG-related programmes should be priotised.
“The National Development framework comprising the 7-point agenda, MDGs and Vision 2020 will be a mirage if rural areas are not transformed in socio-economic and infrastructure terms.
“The rural areas constitute a vast uncharted and unexplored expanse of potential wealth creating resources abandoned to wallow in neglect, impoverishment and penury,” Gaiya noted.
He said government’s pre-occupation with urban development at the federal and state levels had denied rural dwellers the dividends of democracy.
He said the House of inaugurated the Committee on Rural Development in 2007, while the Federal Government inaugurated the National Policy on Integrated Rural Development in 2001.
|
