Agency spends N1.98 billion on 346 Edo community projects

A total of 346 community based projects have been executed in the last eight years under the Edo Community and Social Development Project (CSDP), its General Manager, Dr Gbenga Daodu, has said.

Daodu told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Thursday that some of the projects were executed in partnership with the State Employment and Expenditure for Results Projects (SEEFOR).

CSDP is a World Bank-assisted intervention agency that empowers communities to improve social and natural resources and infrastructure across communities in 18 local government areas of the state.

Daodu said N1.98 billion was spent on the projects, with the CSDP directly executing 228 and another 118 through SEEFOR in 292 communities.

He said that the projects covered the construction of civic centres, open markets, electrification, computer education centres, erosion control and construction of primary healthcare centres.

“The projects executed by the CSDP have impacted on the benefiting communities.

“Before our intervention, there were rampant cases of teenage pregnancies in some communities without electricity. This is now a thing of the past through our intervention.

“Also, we have increased the incomes of women through the provision of open market stores, and made it possible for some communities to access medical care in primary healthcare centres without having to travel far.

“These projects have been extremely beneficial to these communities; we have also intervened by building corpers’ lodge in some community schools,” the general manager said.

Daodu disclosed that the CSDP would officially end in June 2020 while SEEFOR would end by September 2019.

“With the enthusiasm shown by the governor towards these projects, we know that by 2020 we will hit the 600 projects mark executed,” he said.

Daodu said the CSDP currently has 862 applications for new projects from different communities awaiting its intervention.

“Interestingly, we have a new component that we are vigorously pursuing: the Vulnerable Group Intervention Component.

“This group includes the physically challenged, senior citizens, widows and orphans.

“Under this component, we have provided homes, motorised boreholes, and electricity for two Leprosy settlements in Akoko-Edo.

“For the senior citizens, we provided care centres where they can be given assistance for their daily needs,’’ he disclosed.

The general manager said that at the expiration of the CSDP in 2020, there would be another World Bank-assisted project tagged National Social Protection Policy.

“This project will be bigger and more robust than the CSDP, but will follow the same template of being community-driven,’’ Daodu revealed.