Gombe Launches Poverty Monitoring Fund

from All Africa

This Day (Lagos)

By Segun Awofadeji
Gombe

The Development Exchange Centre (DEC) in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria with the support of Britain's Department for International Development (DfID) have launched a Monitoring Virtual Poverty Fund (MVPF) of the Coalitions for Change (C4C) in Gombe, the State capital.

MVPF, also known as debt relief gains initiative, was set by Government to invest the proceeds of the Debt Relief Gains (DRGs) for the provision of projects that can lead to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The launch of above project, THISDAY checks reveal, signifies a fulfillment of a brand of partnership that ActionAid Nigeria advocates; being a partnership between Government, the civil society, community members and the private sector participating in making governance transparent, accountable and effective and for the good of all.

Speaking during the ceremony held recently in Gombe, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Abubakar Sule Bage, represented by Mr. James Pisagih, said the State Government has greater reasons than other States in Nigeria to welcome new initiatives in development; stressing that the State, which is young, has a lot of ground to cover in providing social services for the people.

Bage described development as the cardinal objective of the present administration, and added that the government manifesto that won the people's mandate was fundamentally rooted in responsive agenda of government to the needs and aspirations of the people of the State as articulated in the State Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (SEEDS).

He expressed the State Government's delight at the project launch and lauded ActionAid and its partners for their efforts towards eradicating poverty and stemming other social vices like corruption especially in the public sector.

The SSG reiterated the Governor Danjuma Goje administration's commitment in attaining the MDGs in the State, and called on the civil society to provide honest, constructive and timely feedback on the range of intervention funded under the debt relief gains initiative.

In a goodwill message, Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Dr. Otive Igbuzor said that the coalitions present an opportunity under the auspices of the Virtual Poverty Fund, to influence and monitor processes and systems that aim at accountability, and reasonable utilisation of the over $1 billion which will be invested in MDGs projects in Nigeria, including projects specifically meant to improve lives in Gombe state.

He assured that they are obliged to use the Fund in making real impact on the lives of target beneficiaries including over 50.4 per cent poverty stricken, under privileged pupils, persons living with HIV/AIDs, under five children who are dying of preventable diseases, and pregnant women who suffer maternal problems.

The Country Director appealed to governments, traditional institutions in the State, private sector, the media and other interest groups such as faith-based organisations to partner with the coalitions against corruption, lack of probity in the award of government contracts, abandonment of projects and non-involvement of the people in the development process.

Igbuzor commended the State Government for its laudable initiative, and stressed that collaboration between the State and the coalitions on MVPF is a good omen for the State. The IBP Project Manager of C4C, Mr. Martin Obono, in his remarks, said, "C4C will help establish coalitions of interest from the public, private, civil society sector and the media, sharing a common vision of the need for development and reforms to improve specific aspects of public resource management".

The coalition for change, he noted, represents a new departure for development initiatives in Nigeria, in that it places institution at the heart of endeavours to create an environment where government agencies and the public can relate better with each other.

Obono added that C4C is focused to work with development agencies and institutions which are directly responsible for public resource management in Nigeria; pointing out that the programme will work on core issues linked to accountability and resources management, where there is a marked convergence of interests from across civil society and the private sector into government.