Era of abandoned projects over – FG

The Federal Government has
instituted a mechanism that will check
contractors and monitore the Millennium
Development Goals, MDGs, to stave off poor
implementation or abandonment of projects
nationwide. Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Millennium Development Goals, SSAP-MDG, Dr.
Precious Gbeneol, made government’s position
known, weekend, while commissioning two
primary health care centres, PHCs, and a water
scheme. Gbeneol said: “The era of poor implementation
and abandonment of projects are over as the
Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has
successfully put in place a mechanism that will
effectively place both contractors and officials
monitoring MDG projects in proper check.” Gbeneol also used the outing to launch what
she termed “enhancing citizens’ engagement
protocol for accelerating the attainment of the
MDGs in Nigeria”, also known as “Amebo”. Explaining what Amebo was all about, Gbeneol
said it would deepen community engagement
by scaling up citizens’ action for participatory
governance and development as a means of
increasing the drive to achieve the MDGs in
Nigeria. While explaining that the protocol was designed
to develop and strengthen tools and
mechanisms to ensure that voices of the
communities became part of the decision
making process, Gbeneol said it would further
seek to ensure that communities influenced the outcomes of development projects, as well
as enhance local government authorities’
responsiveness to community demand. She added that the project, being piloted in 21
local council areas through the Conditional
Grant Scheme, CGS, of the Office of the Senior
Special Assistant to the President on MDGs,
would further complement government efforts
in institutionalising transparency, accountability and entrench good governance
in project implementation. “We are in collaboration with our international
development partners, particularly the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with
assistance from the Democratic Governance
Thematic Trust Fund (DGTTF), in implementing
this project,” Dr. Gbeneol said. Welcoming the Federal Government team
earlier in his office, the Deputy Governor,
Prince Eze Madumere, described the new policy
as “a worthy move to place citizens, who are
the beneficiaries of the projects on the driver’s
seat of projects implementation”. He added that MDG projects in the state had
gone a long way in positively impacting the
lives of Imo people. Contributing also, a representative of United
Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Mr.
Andrew David Adejo, said the UN was pleased
with the efforts of putting the people first. He added that they are optimistic that the
initiative will ensure accountability and further
strengthen the fabrics of good governance.