COMMUNITY DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT IS A MUST TO TAKE NIGERIANS OUT OF POVERTY, SAYS OBAJE

The National Coordinator said, Nigeria is a very large country, so there is a need for the implementation of Community Driven Development (CDD) policy for stakeholders to key into it so that majority of Nigerian can be aliviated of their poverty.

Penpushing further reports that, he noted that between 2009 – 2019, CSDP had supported over 14,000 micro projects that has been facilitated and implemented by the community themselves, adding that over 75 billion has been spent for the support of these projects from the World Bank, Federal, State and Local Government over the past 10 years ago.

“Since 2001, most of these poverty eradicating project are community driven, community themselves are in the driven seat to develop their own community, they were given resource, they initiate the projects, managed it, implement and sustained it’.

“We are holding a policy dialogue on community driven development in Nigeria, Nigeria with the support of the World Bank has been implementing several projects aimed at alleviating the poverty of the mases at the community level’.

Penpushing also reports that Obaje pointed out that the intention of the policy was that if CSDP has done so well in investing huge amount like this, there must be a policy framework that will legitimized all this efforts so that major stakeholders can buy into it so as to use it as a veritable tools for poverty alleviation in this country over the next 10 years.

“The President has assured us that 100milion Nigerian will be lifted out of poverty on 10million basis annually, at the end of this dialogue, we are looking up to a policy that  will make development partners, philanthropist, Federal, State, and Local Government to make CDD as a veritable tools in alleviating poverty of the masses.

Penpushing reports that, while speaking about the categories of people selected for the dialogue policy, he noted that people were carefully selected to make input in the policy draft and at the end of the whole exercise, ‘we expect a policy document that will be subjected to the Federal Executive Council for approval.

“We brought in Permanent Secretary, Chairmen of Board of Directors of your  agencies in some States, General Managers, Non-Governmental Organizations, Private sectors  together to look at the initial draft of the policy, so we will have  draft one which will later be presented to a larger stakeholders and groups who will look critically into it and it will be adopted as a National Policy Documents to support the promotion of CDD as an important¡ tools in the eradication of poverty among Nigerians.

“We are expecting accountability, transparency, sustainability at the community level because Nigeria is a very large country, so if this policy is not adopted and decentralized so that people can key into it, we may not be able to reach majority of the poor people in Nigeria’.

Penpushing further reports that representative of the World Bank, Prof. Folusho Okumadewa, said  that it is high time the policy become a mechanism that find a space within the development structure of the country, saying that the document will translate into a policy document and that is why World Bank is in support of it.

“Am here representing the World Bank in this stakeholder meeting where there is a discussion about the potentials Community Driven Development Policy in Nigeria based on the experience of the several projects that has used a community development approached in helping the poor and vulnerable to identified, implement, and sustain interventions that improves their welfare.

Penpushing reports that, he however said that at the end of the discussion, the document will  be transmitted to other level of discussion because it will still be translate to a larger stakeholders which include policy makers in government to decide how it will be engraved in the policy perspective of the nation