20 June 2008
Lagos — EKITI government this year received a total of N2.54 billion from Federal Government to execute various water projects under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Gov. Segun Oni, has said.
Receiving Hajia Amina Ibrahim, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, in Ado Ekiti, Oni said the timely release of the money had raised water supply in the state from 12 per cent to 50 per cent.
Oni said government hoped to achieve 90 percent water supply in Ekiti with the projects and thanked the Federal Government for the gesture.
"With these projects, including the construction and rehabilitation of booster stations and 1000m3 reservoir, we hope to have 1,770 watering points and 10 watering points in each ward in all councils," Oni said.
Earlier, the Senior Special Assistant said she was on a three_day tour of Ekiti to inspect MDGs projects and assess the implementation of the 2007 Conditional Grants Scheme given to States.
The Conditional Grants Scheme is a transfer fund from the federal to state governments for the implementation of water, health and agriculture projects in Local Government Areas.
The grant is line with the agreement which Nigeria signed with its former creditors, the Paris and London Clubs, on the debt forgiveness granted to the country, during former President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration.
Nigeria's former foreign creditors had expected the government to invest savings from the debt relief package in the areas of health, water and agriculture to alleviate poverty among the populace.
She said many people were initially opposed to the approval of the grants to states on the ground that they would not deliver.
"But we were determined to use the fund for the good of the people by creating an enabling environment for them so that we can realise our 2020 vision of becoming the best economy.
"In 2006, 80 percent of the fund went to Ministries, Departments and Agencies, but in 2007 we decided to move closer to the people by using the state governments to reach them," Ibrahim said.
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