By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The federal government has inaugurated the Combined National Project Steering Committees to consider the approval of the 2021 Annual Work plan and Budget of the three projects under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, on Tuesday in Abuja, inaugurated the committees, made of 24 members who were picked from the Agric Ministry, Ministry of Finance, Bank of Agriculture, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and among others.
In his remarks, Nanono said that the inauguration has marked a significant milestone in the implementation of Development partner support projects in Agricultural sector.
The three projects are: Value Chain Development Program (VCDP), Livelihood Improvement and Family Support Enterprise (LIFE-ND) ans Climate Change Adaption and Agribusiness Support Programme (CASP).
Nanono mandated the committees to consider and approve the 2021 Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWPB) of these projects.
He said, ‘’It is worthy of note to acknowledge that the collaboration and partnership arising from the international development /donor cooperation have yielded positive result in the development of the agricultural sector.
‘’The International Fund for Agricultural Development has a huge portfolio amounting to US$366.66 million which are aligned with the agricultural priorities and mandate of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
‘’The projects are implemented in rural poor communities nationwide, directly targeting 250,000 vulnerable smallholder farmers.
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‘’Evidence from the project reports and independent assessments revealed that IFAD supported projects have contributed significantly to the development of the sector in the areas of provision of food security, job creation, import substitution and economic diversification.’’
The minister also urged the committees to review and assess progress made in project implementation and provide policy advisory and general oversight to the programmes.
He tasked them to foster and create a forum for cooperation among projects with relevant project activities of geographical coverage in agriculture and agribusiness.
Earlier speaking, the Permanent secretary of the Agric Ministry, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, said that inauguration has added ‘’impetus to the implementation of these projects because the projects will be properly oversighted and supervised to deliver on the projects development Objectives.’’
Umakhihe, urged the committee to participate actively in the review and approval of the 2021 annual Work plan and Budget in order to strengthen oversight and properly track the implementation of these projects.
In his opening address, the Projects Coordinating Unit (PCU), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Bright Watejire, noted that the inauguration is historic in nature because ‘’for the past 15 years, the National Projects steering committee has never met to consider and approve the work plan of any of the developmental funded projects.’’
He added that ‘’One of the major concern of the Minister since his assumption, was the inactive project steering committee for most of the projects and he noticed that the projects were not properly monitored.
‘’We insisted that the committee of all the projects in agriculture should be properly constituted. Hence, we approved the membership of all the committees but because of COVID-19 it was suspended.’’
He thanked the minister for ensuring that the committee was inaugurated.
He also informed that the committee will not only focus on the IFAD projects but will also be working on other projects under the World Bank and African Development Bank.
