600 Communities Scramble For Projects In Kogi

Mr James Odiba, the General Manager of Kogi State Community and Social Development Agency (KSCSDA), has said that over 600 communities in the state were scrambling for the agency’s development projects.

Odiba told our Correspondent in an interview last Thursday in Lokoja that the World Bank-assisted agency had so far carried out needs assessment on 119 communities.

He said that 96 of the 119 needs-assessed communities had been formulated into Community Development Plans (CDPs) and reviewed by their various Local Government Review Committees for execution.

He stated that the agency approved 83 of the projects comprising 215 micro projects for execution.

Odiba added that 79 of the 83 community development projects valued at about N695 million were on-going with the agency’s financial commitment of N630 million.

He noted that 135 micro projects were currently being executed in various sectors and communities across the state with an outstanding disbursement of N321 million.

Odiba described the agency as an instrument and platform for increased access to more than 70 per cent of Kogi people living in poverty in the rural areas and who were hitherto, denied human development services.

Reporters recalls that the state governor, Capt. Idris Wada, on Tuesday during the ground breaking ceremony of an office complex for the agency, pledged to partner with development agencies to undertake community development projects.

He promised prompt remittance of the state’s counterpart obligations to the World Bank through the agency to increase its coverage and enable the state achieve its transformation agenda and meet the millennium development goals (MDGs).