The German government and the Europe Union (EU) have committed 1.2 million euros to support three Local Government Areas of Adamawa and Borno to improve social cohesion through community development planning.
Mr Samuel Lashom, the Project Coordinator, said this at the launching of the “support to improving social cohesion through community development planning” on Thursday in Maiduguri.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the project is being anchored by Oxfam, an International NGO, in partnership with the German government and EU.
Lashom said that Oxfam targeted 3,100 direct beneficiaries in the project, which was limited to rural communities in Kwaya Kusar, Biu and Guyuk Local Government Areas of Borno and Adamawa.
“We are targeting 3,100 direct beneficiaries on the project and we can break it down, and like we have indicated, we have at least 100 people from each of the 33 wards that will be working across the three local governments,” he said.
The project coordinator said that the project was limited to three council areas due to inadequate resources.
He said that their international partners were committed to providing more funds subsequently for the execution of the project in other local government areas.
“Like we have always known, resources are scarce. As development partners, we cannot develop the projects all at once in all the local government areas.
“So, we are very strategic. We have started doing some work in Southern Borno.
“However, we have plans with our partners to scale it up to other local governments in Northern Borno and also the Borno Central part. But if you go to Adamawa, we have done it across all the geopolitical zones,” the coordinator said.
Lashom said that they had series of activities lined up in the project which required serious commitment on the part of all stakeholders.
‘For instance, the next thing we are going to do is to build up the capacity of all team members, the government partners, after which we are going to commence sensitisation for all the critical stakeholders, and then we are going to get involved in a dialogue with all the gatekeepers.
“We call it community entry, where we are going to sit down on a round table and highlight everybody’s role, after which we commence full implementation by conducting community development planning session,” he said.
He said that they would also come out with other capacity building training across the three local governments.
Also speaking, Mr Musa Kiri, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government Affairs in Adamawa, urged the stakeholders to give the organisers of the project the necessary support to achieve its objectives.
Similarity, Mr Isa Garba, the Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement in Borno thanked the organisers for selecting two local government areas out of the three selected for the project from Borno.
He promised to give all the necessary support for the success of the project