Nigeria And EU Sign 16 Billion Naira Grant Agreement

Nigeria And EU Sign 16 Billion Naira Grant Agreement

The Nigerian Government has signed a 16 billion naira-grant agreement with the European Union (EU) to fund three projects in Nigeria for four years.

The agreement was signed on Monday in Abuja by the Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr Shamsuddeen Usman, and the Managing Director for Africa of the European External Action Service, Mr Nick Westcott.

The grant

Usman said the grant was part of EU's 2010 Annual Action Plan for Nigerian development and would be expended on immunisation governance, the office of the national authorising officer and the promotion of better management of migration.

According to him, 10.4 billion Naira is allocated to support immunisation governance in Nigeria, Four billion Naira for promoting better management of migration, while 1.6 billion Naira would be expended to support the office of the national authorising officer. He said that the National Planning Commission as the authorising officer, was responsible for managing all the European Development Fund (EDF) projects in Nigeria.

He said that the purpose of the project was to contribute to the reduction of childhood morbidity and mortality caused by diseases that were easily preventable through vaccination.

The minister said the project, which aimed at contributing toward stopping the transmission of the wild polio virus, would be available through primary healthcare systems in 24 states of the country.

“This project will contribute toward strengthening Nigeria's capacity to manage migration in order to maximise its development potential.

``The project will also enhance governance of the sector and national capacity to manage organised labour migration and irregular migration,'' Usman said.

The Minister said that the EDF programmes align seamlessly with the development objectives of Nigeria as enunciated in the Vision 20:2020 document and its national implementation plan.

Usman said the support to immunisation governance would contribute to the achievement of the health sector objectives of the Vision 20:2020 as well as ensure the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Fund implementation

Earlier, Westcott said the signing of the agreement was a demonstration of EU's commitment to Nigeria's development.

He said that the EU would monitor and measure the fund to ensure that it was judiciously used for its purpose.

Westcott added that his maiden visit to Nigeria was due to the cordial relationship Nigeria had maintained with the EU.

NAN/Williams