Business
FADAMA To Disburse $9m To 60,480 Beneficiaries In N’ East
The FADAMA III Second Additional Financing (AFII) Programme will, before the end of March, disburse 9 million U.S. dollars to 60,480 direct beneficiaries of its food and livelihoods scheme in the North East.
North East Desk Officer of FADAMA III (AFII) programme, Mr Ibrahim Alkali, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, yesterday.
He said that the World Bank and the Federal Government had given the programme the permission to use the money to fund 189 Community Action Plans (CAPs) across the six states in the North East.
He said that out of the figure, Borno had 40 CAPs; Yobe, 50; Adamawa, 29; Bauchi State, 25, Gombe State, 22 and Taraba, 23; adding that the target was 7,560 households and 60,480 direct beneficiaries.
The FADAMA III AFII programme, a World Bank intervention project, has been receiving wide commendations for its efforts to restore the livelihoods of the people in the North East.
Alkali said that the project, known as the North East Food Security and Livelihood Emergency Support Project, which started its first funds disbursement in October 2016, had really achieved its objectives.
Alkali said that the project was expected to close its disbursement in the first quarter of this year but due to the fluctuation in foreign exchange rates, the project made extra money which amounted to about 9 million dollars.
The desk officer said that the money would go a long way to help those people who hitherto had not benefited from the project.
Alkali said that most of the new beneficiaries had been appealing to the World Bank and the Federal Government to incorporate them in the programme.
“The project has restored the beneficiaries’ joy after their harrowing experiences during the Boko Haram insurgency because they were once hopeless.
“They were overwhelmed with joy because of the abundant supply of food items, livestock and agricultural inputs by the project.