ABIA IN FOCUS AT THE WORLD BANK
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu today, honored the invitation of the World Bank, Nigeria Office.
The objective of the meeting was to do a comprehensive appraisal of how the State has fared in its collaboration with the World Bank in the several areas where the Bank works with State Governments to strengthen governance and implement projects.
Most of the interventions of the Bank are activated under several stringent conditions including payment of counterpart funds by states and adherence to strict standards of fiscal transparency and institutional compliance.
World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Rachid Benmessaoud chaired the session which was addressed by team leaders of the various areas of intervention.
The summary of the reports is that Abia has remained a top performer in practically all the areas where the Bank is involved. In the payment of counterpart funds, Abia has performed creditably. Save for a few areas, Abia has kept faith substantially with her obligations in paying counterpart funds.
In the implementation of NEWWAP, the World Bank says that “Abia has the most organized and fastest NEWMAP system in Nigeria” both in terms of payment of counterpart funds and the organizational efficiency. This has shown in top quality infrastructure and erosion control projects, both completed and ongoing.
The reason for this, according to the World Bank, is because “Governor Ikpeazu has provided great and strong leadership and has shown personal commitment to the success of NEWMAP in Abia State. This commitment by the Governor has resulted to stronger confidence on our part and more projects are underway. Indeed, the Abia NEWMAP will soon host the biggest NEWMAP Project in Nigeria”.
The bank noted however that there is one critical sector where we have performed below average which has resulted to our inability to access bigger funds. They challenged us to put more efforts in that area.
The Governor admitted that we had challenges in that area but made a firm commitment that things will change in a matter of days.
He also assured that few areas where we have not scored 100% in counterpart funding will receive immediate attention.
Governor Ikpeazu thanked the World Bank for their consistent support to the state and assured that his administration will continue to keep faith with the programs of the Bank.
He particularly thanked the Bank for accepting to fund the expansion of the YESSO program throughout the 17 LGAs of the State by, updating the data base from the current 6 LGAs to cover the entire state.
In Endi Ezengwa, we have a solid man in the area of Youth Empowerment and Job Creation. At YESSO, where he is drives the vision of the Governor, great strides have been achieved and the World Bank is impressed.
Onyebuchi Ememanka, Esq
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.
25th July, 2019.