Education, health Agriculture and other sectors in the FCT, are to benefit greatly from a partnership between the FCT Administration and the United Nations systems.
This is as the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello and the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Mathias Schmale, signed the Joint Annual Review and Work Plan of the Federal Capital Territory/United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (FCT-UNSDPF) to improve service delivery in those sectors
Speaking during the brief signing ceremony which took place in his office, Malam Bello commended the UN for the intervention and gave assurances of the FCTA’s support for UN activities in the Territory.
Malam Bello said, “Frankly I am satisfied with the support we receive as a city and as a Territory from the UN family, and I assure you that we will continue to partner with you on this intervention and all the things that you do for the FCT.
“I am very happy that a new cooperation framework is being considered with the federal government of Nigeria and as usual we hope that you will create a window of opportunity for the FCT because we are happy with your interventions and we want to partner more closely with you”.
Also speaking, Mr Mathias Schmale said that that the three Result Areas and 9 Outcomes of the UNSDPF are (1) Governance, Human Rights, Peace and Security, (2) Equitable Quality Basic Services, and (3) Sustainable and Inclusive Growth and Development. He equally revealed that the UN was about to sign a new cooperation framework with the Federal Government
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Shedding more light on the partnership and what it portends for the FCT, the Secretary, Economic Planning, Revenue Generation and PPP Secretariat, Hon. Agboola Lukman Dabiri said that FCT residents ultimately stand to benefit a lot from the partnership with the United Nations.
He said: “First is the opportunity to be among the four states to be picked in Nigeria. There is a lot to be gained in terms of improvement in facilities. FCT at the moment is over-stretched because of the amount of people coming into the Territory. Health, Education and even sanitation are stretched. This kind of support goes a long way in meeting our challenges in this regard and the residents have a lot to gain”.
Honourable Dabiri also explained that a major component of the agreement was capacity development.
He said “The top priority among projects approved is capacity build-up. It has a lot of significance because it shows that there is a good future for us. It is not always about putting down money, building roads and other facilities. It has to go with capacity build-up which is about maintaining these roads and facilities and how we can sustain them for the future”.
Areas of capacity building, he said, include support for Primary Healthcare Centres, training for medical officials, training on Children’s rights and facilities to improve schools
Present at the signing ceremony were officials from the UN, the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola, Chief of Staff to the Minister, Malam Bashir Mai-Bornu, Secretary, Education Hon Sani El-Katuzu, Secretary for Health and Human Services, Dr Abubakar Tafida, the Assistant FAO Representative in Nigeria, Mr David Fehintola and other officials of the FCTA and the UN.
