27th December, 2012
Cross River State Government has got $447,000 from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) for projects since 2006, the State Programme Officer, Mr Innocent Ogbin, said.
Ogbin told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Calabar on Wednesday that the amount represented 40 per cent of the total project cost.
He said the delay in payment of counterpart funds by contributory partners was responsible for the low level of implementation of IFAD programmes in the state.
“So far, we have been able to draw $447,000 from IFAD to date and that is just over 40 per cent. We still have more than over 50 per cent yet to draw.
“And the reason is because of low commitment in terms of counterpart funding,” he said.
Ogbin said the state government had paid N154 million as counterpart funding between 2006 and 2011 but had yet to pay for 2012.
“The state is doing very well, the state’s yearly contribution is N45 million, which they have paid up to 2011. As at today, the state is 75 per cent compliant. But the huge challenge lies with the local governments. Incidentally, this takes about 45 per cent of the entire project funding.
“So, you will agree that if you take away 45 per cent funding in the project, the remaining 55 per cent cannot complete the project. That is a huge challenge,” Ogbin said.
He, however, said that an agreement had been reached for the funds to be deducted at source from the accounts of the nine councils involved in the project.
“But now, we have been able to get the commitment of local governments involved. And they are in line with the agreement that this fund should be deducted from their allocations.
“We hope that by the first quarter of 2013, these funds would be paid,” Ogbin said.
He said his office had devised a means of taxing the benefiting communities in order to make for the non-payment of counterpart funds by the councils.
He further said that in spite of the shortcoming by the councils, they were still asking for more projects in their communities.
“The councils are also asking for expansions of the projects to more communities which we had recommended in the last review mission,” he added.