FG receives 89m euro grant for water, maternal health projects

By CHINENYE ANUFORO
The European Union (EU) yesterday signed three financing agreements totalling €89 million euro (about N18 billion) with the Federal Government of Nigeria to support water, maternal and new born health, and the country’s competitiveness in non-oil related sectors’ programmes.
The EU Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr David MacRae, described the deal as a demonstration of the union’s sustained commitment to Nigeria’s drive towards enhancing the socio-economic wellbeing of her citizenry, particularly to programmes that are targeted at creating enabling environment for investments and alleviating poverty amongst the vulnerable poor in the grassroots.
He said the grants committed to three programmes – maternal and new-born health, water supply and sanitation sector reform, and Nigeria’s competitiveness support, were bound to impact positively on the targeted sectors and by implication, help the country in leveraging its successes so far and support the current efforts to attain of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) targets. He disclosed that of the total grants, maternal and new-born health support programme would gulp 30 million Euros compared to the water supply and sanitation sector reform programme’s 40 million Euros and Nigeria’s competitiveness support programme’s 19 million Euros.
He pointed out that specifically that the maternal and new-born health support programme’s grant would help in improving the health status of women and children through an enhanced and sustainable primary health care delivery system while the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform grant would increase access to safe adequate and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services in Adamawa, Ekiti and Plateau States.
On the competitiveness support programme and its implications for governance in the country, the EU leader noted that the programme would help in improving Nigeria’s competitiveness in the non-oil related sectors by supporting trade policy management and trade facilitation through an improved customs management. In his opening remarks, the Secretary to the National Planning Commission, Barrister Fidelis Ugbo, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Minister of National Planning, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, for the Federal Government, said by authorising the three financing agreements with the EU providing 89 million Euros, Nigeria will be on the right track to make considerable progress in the achievement of the MDGs.