By Michael Olugbode
Borno Government has appealed to the European Union (EU) to extend the lifespan of projects presently executed by its, implementation partners in the state due to the insurgency induced challenges in the area.
This appeal was made at the weekend by the Borno State Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), Engr. Mustapha Gubio at the Technical Implementation Committee meeting held in Maiduguri.
Gubio, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Engr. Abba Yusuf, disclosed that: “We are planning for possible extension and completion of various projects in the state,” adding that inputs needed to be provided by the programme steering committee.
While reviewing the implementation progress, he said: “Today’s meeting was to review the challenges and determine our outstanding activities in the state.”
He thanked the EU and implementation partners for supporting the State Government with various intervention projects to save people’s lives and property, while acknowledging the challenges partners are facing during their project implementation.
He pledged that: “Government will continue with its commitments in overcoming the challenges faced by the partners.
He however assured the EU that the state government was always working with all partners in addressing the challenges on security and safety of field workers.
He lamented that other challenges include inaccessibility to project sites and farmlands, approval delays with restrictions of farm inputs, multiple layers of conditions, attacks on infrastructural facilities, mistrust and the misconceptions on EU’s interventions to save people’s lives.
The team leader, Support to Coordination of EU funded intervention in Borno state (SCEUB), Kabiru Abass disclosed that Inaccessibility to project locations caused by security challenges had also contributed to delays in the implementation process.
Yusuf, therefore, appealed to the EU to grant extension to the implementation process to complete the projects. He said:
“We at the MRRR noted the need for extension to complete the ongoing projects.”
He noted that the support to the coordination of EU interventions had improved relationship and communication between the state government and implementation partners.
This relationship, according to him, has quickly detected issues and support for the technical challenges experienced by the partners.
He also noted that one of the challenges was the need to get military clearance for the movement of goods and equipment to reduce duplications of projects.
On the handover of completed projects, he said: “I’m appealing to the partners to fully handover all completed projects to the state government,” adding that Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are to take over and sustain all the projects.
The state government and implementation partners however called for a strategic action to access Local Government Areas (LGAs) for more interventions.
He said that the EU Borno package will contribute to the implementation of the 25-year Development Plan of the state.
