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By KeiRJI OIannye N the Ni~ Ddll region oflhe country, agricuhure lemalns the predominant occupatioll oflhe people. although crude 011 uplor.uion In the Uta relegated It to the background ovcr the ytaf5. Anal),sts nOle thll despite the huge revenue thallCClucs to sllits In the region frolll the Federalion A( cou nl. Ihe vut majority of the people are still poor, while soebl amenities In the un alT I far cry from whal Is Qpect~ of stiles with such high revenue promcs. Ine\il.. bI)·,lhe deplorable co n· dition of the people. youlh unemployment and enviro nment ..1 de:graJatlon of the area had bred )'Qulh restiveness, which on mally occasions, dinupted the nation'! 011 production efforu, while crel ling $l'.riOlU slrktures for the economy. In ret:ent times.. however, some SU"'!:mment programmes and pro.i«(S havc been initiated 10 redrns the poor condition of life In the area. though the Icvd of succcu attained with such inter· vcntlons remain dmatlble. Some analysts have npressed dlseno::hanlmmt with certain prDgramme,. which 5t'Cmed designed without the input of the: JICOple: they IVcrc intended to sen'e, so as to engender the nced~ partner· ship. As • resull. they claim.lhal thae hOld been rampant cases of abandon~ proJc:cts In the region's rural and urban uru.
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",ainst this backdrop. the Government, Federal . 2005, entered into an agrccm ~nt wilh the International FunJ lor Agricultural Devd· opmcnt (IFAD). to draw on Its fun ds f('r the dl:Vdopment of run.! com mvnltlC$through a partnership wi.h lh~ Niger Delta Devel· opment Commission (NDDC), Slatl'S and loc:aJ go ...emments within the Niga Delta IcgJon. In the ,oint enterprise,lFADi (on tept of Community-Driven Development Approach. oth· envlsc known as ~OOnonHop approao:h; was adopted, 50 IS to allow the community peeple to ~rtidpate, Identify. analyse. supervisc and sustain their dcvcl· opmen': initiativca. As lmdable as the joint enla· prise . p~ obK'l'\'!:ra point out that some plTlldpllingltatcs ~ defaulting in the payment o f the ir counterpart funds, thus hampering the dfutiveneSi of the sch : me.. 'Nith the benent ofhlnwight. the IFAD·assisted Community. Based Halural Resoulce Manage· ment Progrunnle· Nlger Delli (CBNr.Mp. ND) became eff«· lil'!:in Iuly7. 2005 in Abla. Akwa loom. Baydu.. CrOll Riyer. Rlv·
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ers.. fdo, Delta. Ondo and lmo
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prugramme objectives was to build various ca".cltlcs for rural dwellers and their seryice provld. ers. 10 enable them to effcctlvely Intervene in their own develop ' mental initiatives. In furtheranceofthls obJectl\·e. it was cxpected that an effective d isbul'$l.ble community develop· mmt fund would be in place. to be managed by the community. At the third wrap· up meeting of the Joint IFAD/ FGNINDDC/ CBNRMP-NO Supervision Mis.lion held recently In Au"", Dr lones l.c:mchl, the Mission Team t.c:ader, bemoaned the poor fund· Ing oC the projects by the parties. especially the states and local gov· enmlents. e said emphatically thaI thl$ ought not be 50. espt· dal ly when the Integra~ agriculture and rural dcvdopmmt programme aimed at Improving the living conditions of at lcast. 400.000 rur.tl h ouseholds In the region. Including women and youthll. According to Lcmclll. IFAD· CBNRMP has so far disbursed over 30 mWlon U.S. dolllrs(lbout N4A billion) ror projects In the Niger Della region. Hesaid that thefunu released 50 far represented about 40 per ceru finandal performan« as ..gainst the apec:tcd 75 per cent or 73.65 m1llion doUars (about NI1.I4 billion) by Aug. 9.2011. Appe:wng 10 the "ales to be more fortlleoming With their counterpart funding, he said that poor funding of the programme had led to the scaling down of the programme ftom nine loa.! councils in eam ,tatc to only three councils In SC'VCn 5tlles. He pointedoutthatonlyOndo and CrO$S RI~r 511te5 main tained implementation of the programme In nine locaJ governmcnl5each. -The level of Ichlevement of field activities during the sill: years of the progranlme's uistencc is 33 per cent with only aboul35 per cent of total fUl1u released,LcmchJsaid. He, however. saId that only Ondo and Cross RIver Stiles and 28 local goyernment areas in the region paid their counterpart funds during th~ period. l.c:mchl commended the NDDC for releasi ng two trulchcs of its countupart funding but urged it 10 scale up by paying the
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balance.. He said that NDOC's payment of5.5 million dollars (.boUI N821 million) In May thi5 year for 2007 and 2009, has enabled the pro. ,=.me 10 dnw down on I.FAD
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Arlcefarm -NDDCrc:leucd funds due for 2007 and 2009 to the tunc of 5.S million dollan (about N821 mi llion) leaving an unpaid bllance of 1.33 mUlion dollan (about N200 million). -This 15 Invaluable al this time In fmancing most of the activities In the lGAs.." He, nonethelcu, recom· mended the rericw of the pro· gnmme funding ntio that currenLiy placed hu~ burden on the local government coundl5. - The FGN should drive: this process and It should Iiso Imple-, ment without delay. lile deduc· tlon of local government funds at source 10 address the Issun oC non-payment by the loa.! govern-
m="He a.dU:d the IfAD -Rome Office 10 endeavor to always 5peedUP the withdrawal lPpUca· tion process to IYm dellYS In the tdClSC of funds, adding that the fight against rural povCTty was a fight thaI must be won. Apparently mindful ohhe ter· mlnal date for the programme. tile Programme's Country Manager, Mr Abdou Barry, urged the participatlllgstates to p~y up their counterpart funds to enable thc:m dnw down the fund from IFAD. -It is verJ.Sld to see tile level of Ixwerty In e region. So. It tWc:s questions as to the inlplementa· tion level of the programme here.. -We have said that the coun terpatt funding Is a problem and If we cannot change It, let us work around that ploblem by flndlng other M)lut;ons.Barry stressed that the: funding ratio would remaln u It wu the rcsponsJblllty of lhe local governments toater (or Its people In the rural communities.. e hinted thatl.FAD wouJd noal I value chain programme \vltII specific focus on CU5ava and rice produc. tlon In 20 13, bul only pcrfonnins Sillies in the current programme would be selected to par tIcipate In ll 0, 0resola OyebanJI. Chief Tc:chnica AdylJet. National Pro· gramme for Agricultutc and Food Security. Federal Mlnlstrr.0r Agri· cullllre and Rural Deve opmenl, rcUeltcd the InabUlty ofloca1 gov-
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unmcnl5 to pay up Ihci r N4 mU·
lion counterpart fund each year. ~Any local governmellt which cannot payN4 millionascounter· part rund for a year for the dtvel· opmenl of Its communities is not responsivc to the n«Us ofthe people il governs." The laudable goab of the I FAD prognmme notwithstanding. some obseryen still beliC\'!: that Ills an additional burden on the coundls, which 5till contended with the funding oC c:xJ.sting pmgrammes as FADAMA, UBE, pri· mary httlthclfe, among otherll. 1ney. however. plead that pemors In the participating slatcs should be further wooed to make: greater \nl'uts Into the programme, so as to impact more positively on the li~ ofthdr peo,1<
bubra local (joyemmc:nt Council Chairman, Mr Chris Obasse. acknowledged that the agricultural sector remained I vcry strong point in the region for any government to touch the liyCS o( the people. -I beUeve that If we explore the area of our slrengtll, we will do better as a region and thll Is why I think that we need the political will of the chid' aecuti\'eS of ou r \'mollS 5tatcs. -The governors 5houJd reorder their prioritieslo reallT.c that as a region. agricu lture alone can sustain our people.. He suggcsted that governors should see how local government countcrput funds couid be deducted at so urce. for onward remittance to IFAD. so that the prcgrarn01ccould run .moothly. Obaue Rid that staleS would be deceiving them.sch ·cs ICthey neglccted agriculture, adding that: ~ I am a rural ma n. l am interested in agricu lture:; this Is Ihe only way I can empower my people": He narrated that when he a5Sumed ornce. he saw in the agricuhural sector, a lI10st rC':lllstlc ""'y to empower hi5 prople. hence he personally wrote to his governor. cxprc:s.slnga ,pcdll inierestin the IFADprogramme.. -And I told him to deduct the funds at source (rom my Iccount and pay and thaI is why 1 1m still in the programme today."
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The cllalrman Ippelled tIIat the IFAD·assbted programm( should go bc)'Qnd iu agrlcultur.1 limiu. to involve the proviJlon of Lnfraslructural nttds of the people,ln order 10 hoostlts effective·: "'~ On her parI. ~ITllrene 1umbo. Ibc:akzie, I.FAD· C IJNRMP National Programme Coordina~ tor lauded the Inluvc:ntion oC NODe In May this)'ear touve the programme from coUapse.. -All our efforl5 were almost gone until NODe Intervened by paying its counterpart fund$.. And immediately. life returned to the programme bcause with that money, we were able to drawdown runds (rom IFAD. She expressed optiml5m that the projects. currently In their early $Iagn, would progrt'U. mature md start 10 produce before the nVlt wrap-upsc.s.sion In Benin Cily. Edo stile. She $;lId thaI if states and Ionl govc:rnmenl5 paid up all their pledges. the prognmme would definitely upand to covet otller communitia. Rccognblng tile Impact of the prognmme. the Delta SlItc Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Rc:sources, Mr Mlsan reprcsc:nled UkubeytnJe. who by Mr Jonathan Ochonogo. Pt:r· mlnt'lll Scctetary In Ihe ministry, lauded the dc:vdopmentallnitiati\·esofIFAD. ccording 10 Ukubcyinjc. I number of proJec.ts have been undertaken in selected communities In Delta State under the th rce components of village InfnSlrUcture, livelihood Improvcnlent and natural resource managc:ment. -Presently. witll the emphasis on agrlcullural production. there has bc:c:n a shift of programme implementation. Finally. I wi.sh to reiterate the Sllte government's suppon for and commitment to thesuccCS$ ofiFAD- CBNRl'oIP In the stale": The challenges ahead for the programme arc daunting but quite surmountable. provided all stakeholden in th e project .show enougheommltmentbyptomptl), paying up all their counterpart funw 10 ensure the programme's effectfvcncs;s. NAN/Feature
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