The Chairmen of the Twenty-One Council Areas in Kogi State under the auspices of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria in Kogi State, ALGON has commended the World Bank-Kogi state government partnership intervention through the Kogi State Community and Social Development Agency.
This was expressed during the Thank You Visit by the State ALGON Chairman, Alhaji Issa Taofiq to the Agency. The Chairman who is also the Executive Chairman of Ijumu Council Area was visibly happy and emphasized the need for the Agency to seek further extension for this World bank partnership until all the rural communities are all provided with social facilities capable of reducing the poverty situation of the various communities.
He was quoted as saying ‘I am here representing the Chairmen of the twenty-one council areas to commend the Agency for reducing the poverty situation of our rural communities by the provision of basic social infrastructures.
These infrastructures are all over in our communities in different sectors. We now proud that through this partnership we now have more schools, borehole, rural electricity and roads, Health Centers etc.”
The Chairman also used the visit to thank the Governor of the State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello for standing the gap for the rural population, he described the Governor as a Rural Development Champion.
The elated General Manager, Mallam Momoh O. Dauda thanked the ALGON Chairman and promised that though the Community and Social Development project closed on 30th September, 2020, the follow on project, NG- CARES is positioned to further raise rural communities out of poverty and the shock that might have arisen due to COVID -19 pandemic.
In a brief sensitization, the GM said the Nigeria Covid-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (N-CARES) Programme is an intervention that is built on the platforms of existing projects of the Federal Government of Nigeria. These are National Cash Transfer (NCT), Youth Employment and Social Support Operations (YESSO), Community and Social Development Project (NG-CSDP), FADAMA, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, (GEEP). These projects are operational at the Federal and State level.
He added that the NG-CARES will use PforR aimed at supporting the Government in responding to the COVID-19 crisis by restoring the livelihoods and food security of poor and vulnerable households and promoting recovery of MSEs in the country.
The Programme will use established platforms at the state level, to (a) support the objectives in protecting the very poor and vulnerable groups through expanding coverage of the existing social assistance interventions at the state level and enabling the delivery of basic social services; (b) use Labor Intensive Public Works (LIPW) in the social and agriculture sectors to maintain and enhance social and agricultural infrastructure; and (c) stimulate the economy by supporting agricultural value chains, providing livelihood grants to prevent the collapse of informal enterprises, helping finance costs to help retain workers in MSEs, and enabling technology enhancements to allow businesses to adapt to COVID-19 induced constraints.