Adamawa State Government Assures Development Partners Of Protection Of Projects

By Hassan Umar Shallpella

Adamawa State Government has assured development partners of protection of every project executed through Monitoring and Evaluation Technology known as ‘Citizen Eye and Ear Project’ put in place.

Executive Chairman, Adamawa State Planning Commission, Doctor Mary Paninga, gave the assurance during a Kick-off project tagged “Support to improving Social Cohesion through community development planning in Michika Local Government Area held at the AUN Hotel Yola Thursday.

The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and development and is implemented in partnership with the Christian Rural and Urban development Association of Nigeria and the Centre for Public Education and Mobilization for Development in Nigeria.

Doctor Paninga appreciated the contribution of various organizations towards development of the state, gave an assurance of ensuring the successful implementation of the project and its sustainability in order to achieve the desired results.

In his welcome address, Oxfam Country Director, Tijjani Ahmed Hamza said the aim of the project is to strengthen social cohesion through capacity building of stakeholders on inclusive planning, implementation, and monitoring of community development plans.

He added that the project target over one thousand, two hundred and eighty persons across the sixteen wards of Michika Local Government Area with the final beneficiaries being an estimated at two hundred and thirty-nine thousand, four hundred persons.

Mr Hamza further said the project will leverage the citizens’ engagement and participatory planning policy and convert the negative experiences and displacement to gains in terms of social and economic developments that will mutually benefit the host communities, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons.

In his remark, Cluster Coordinator Just Transition, Inclusion and Commission Manager, Nigeria Energy Support Programme, Duke Bejamin  said the implementation of the project in Michika is due to presence of Citizen Engagement and Participatory Planning Policy which was launched in June last year.

He attributed the failure of governance at local government level to poverty, conflict and insecurity, noted that the project geared towards institutional strengthening of local government structure including leadership, planning and budgeting departments.

There were good will messages from Doctor Markus Wanger, Country Director, GIZ Nigeria and ECOWAS and First Secretary, Head of development Cooperation at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany-Abuja, Susanne Schroder, Chairman Michika local government council, Amos Drambi, and District Head of Michika, Nginda Zakawa.

The OXFAM Project Coordinator Enoch Bamaiyi gave an overview on how the project will be implemented, and its benefits to the people.