Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has distributed N377 million as grants to 21 communities benefiting from the Community and Social Development Project in the state.
Others to benefit from the intervention, which is a World Bank assisted project, are 20 vulnerable groups in various communities in the state.
Speaking at the occasion held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Bauchi yesterday, the governor said already N100 million has been released as counterpart contribution for the implementation of the project.
He pledged the commitment of his administration towards implementing numerous programmes in line with the cardinal objectives of good governance.
Mohammed noted that to compliment the World Bank giant strides, the administration is making deliberate attempt to provide infrastructure to critical sectors of the economy to ensure conducive atmosphere for the growth of small businesses among others in the state.
According to him, as a conscious effort to institutionalise sustainability plans, the project has provided three level initiatives aimed at ensuring full ownership in line with global best practice.
The governor said the state government has entered into a strategic partnership with the World Bank to strengthen the capacity of rural communities and enjoined the beneficiaries of the micro grants to employ the ethics of sincere ownership and safeguard the unique investment for enhanced quality of life.
On his part, the state Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Aminu Hassan Gamawa, pointed out that the Community and Social Development Project is one of the areas of collaboration between the state government and the World Bank to reduce poverty through community participation in service delivery.
Gamawa said the presentation of the cheque to the communities was a tandem with the present administration’s drive to reduce youth restiveness, unemployment, hunger and poverty by re-directing the scare resources for more productive economic gains.
The Budget and Economic Planning commissioner said the ministry had maintained its open-door policy for the purposes of interaction with civil society organisations to engender partnership, collaboration and joint monitoring and evaluation of the priorities for the 2020 fiscal year.
By Segun Awofadeji,
This Day Newspaper