Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, says no fewer than 36 million Nigerians benefited from the Community Social Development Project (CSDP) within 11 years in the country.
Farouq made this known in her opening address at the ‘Close Out’ event for the CSDP on Tuesday in Abuja.
The event was to mark the end of CSDP in Nigeria.
She said the project, which became effective in 2009, has had two Additional Financings, all totalling 415 million dollars.
The minister said in its over 11 years of existence, the CSDP had evolved into one of the strong pillars for the implementation of the Social Protection Programmes of the Federal Government under her Ministry through the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO).
She stressed that the CSDP operated with the core principle of the Community-Driven Development (CDD) Approach.
She explained that this was a development paradigm that focused on the needs of the poor and vulnerable and empowering them with development resources to address their peculiar needs.
“Using this unique approach, the CSDP has implemented micro-projects in poor communities across the 543 Local Government Areas of 29 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
‘This represents about 70 per cent of the total number of local governments in Nigeria.
“The poor communities are identified specifically through the use of Poverty Maps agreed to by each participating state and FCT.
“The Project has made a substantial impact on improving access of the poor and vulnerable to social and natural resources infrastructure across the benefitting communities,” she said.
Umar Farouq said that the total number of beneficiaries of CSDP stands at 11 million direct beneficiaries across the 29 states, with an estimated 25 million indirect beneficiaries.
According to the minister, the CSDP has achieved among others the completion of 16,166 micro-projects in 5,664 communities and 934 vulnerable groups.
“These micro-projects cut across eight sectors of intervention namely education, health, water, transportation, electrification, socio-economic, environment and community housing.5,764 classrooms, 1,323 health centres and 4,442 water micro-projects were constructed and or rehabilitated.
“The above results demonstrate that community-driven development approach adopted as the implementation strategy in the CSDP is not only reliable but produces results and should be sustained by the participating states and beyond,” she said.
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Speaking, Mr Clem Agba, State Minister of Finance and Budget Planning said the close of CSDP was the upgrade of CSDP to Nigeria.
“The programme has built capacity for close to 12 years and we will not allow the capacity to go just like that.
“President Muhammadu Buhari cares and that is why he approved the project and have his full support,” Agba said.
He appreciated Farouq and President Muhammadu Buhari for their passion and dedication to the poor, vulnerable and Community development.
The high point of the event was the presentation of awards to Farouq, Agba, World Bank, and many others including some states.
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