Obiano Earmarks N3.58bn For Community Development Projects 

Raymond Ozoji, Awka

Governor Willie Obiano of  Anambra State has set aside N3.58bn for the commencement of the third phase of the N20m Community-Choose-Your-Project Initiative.

Obiano said each of the one hundred and seventy-nine Communities in the state would have N20m each for projects unanimously decided by the communities to be sited in their respective domain.

The governor’s decision was contained in a press release signed by the state commissioner for information and public enlightenment Mr. C.Don Adinuba and issued to journalists yesterday.

The release also has it that communities  yet to complete the second phase of the community development initiate will however not participate in the third phase as government observed that only seventy-eight communities have completed the second phase and ready to start new development projects in the third phase.

The state government maintained that it  was regrettable that about 50 percent of communities were yet to finish the second phase on account of mostly communal politics and squabbles pointing out that internal politics and squabbles were  slowing down the progress of not only the affected communities but also the entire state.

The release stressed that the Anambra State government was in a hurry to develop all communities in the state thereby appealing to all Presidents General, Ndi Igwe and other stakeholders in the communities to ensure that their communities were not left behind in his community development drive.

The state government therefore called upon warring communities to resolve their problems immediately and complete the second phase of the Community-Choose-Your-Project Initiative.

It further explained that the people and government of Anambra State were proud of this initiative which had brought concrete development to every community even as it informed that the initiative has been copied by some other states in the country .

The Community-Choose-Your-Project Initiative was an unprecedented development strategy by the Anambra State Government through which each of the one hundred and seventy-nine communities in the state select a project government would execute in the area worth N20m.

The community chooses the contractor who must come from the area while government provides the resources adding that communities have chosen libraries, civic centres, health centres, markets, water boreholes and a host of other projects for rapid development of the area.

The aforementioned strategy has earned eulogies from researchers and development experts as a perfect example of the bottom-top approach to development which was recommended in the democratic setting, as opposed to the traditional top-down style which sees top government officials decide projects for communities without finding out the felt-needs of the communities.

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