Nigeria secures N110b grant for projects from EU

THE European Union (EU) has approved €555 million (N110 billion) grant for projects in different sectors of the Nigerian economy.

Specifically, Head of Delegation of the European Union in Nigeria, David MacRae, said that the organisation has committed €98 million to help the Nigerian government fight corruption, drug trafficking and improve the judicial system in the country.

Also, another €60 million was approved for better management of public finance at state and local government levels in the country.

Other recently approved projects include a further contribution to the vaccination programme against polio (€55 million); a programme to facilitate legal migration (€20 million); support for the justice sector (€27 million); and aid to reform federal institutions (€17 million).

The EU’s support in the fight against corruption took (€35 million) and €36 million was spent to combat organised crime, drugs and human trafficking.

Macrae listed other EU projects in the pipeline for Nigeria in 2012 to include renewable energy, further support with water and sanitation, and a programme to alleviate poverty in certain Northern states.

He noted that the overall objective of these projects was to promote good governance and contribute to Nigeria’s efforts in enhancing transparency, accountability and combating corruption, thereby contributing to the reform in the justice sector and addressing drug related issues in Nigeria.

According to him, EU was interested in facilitating major investment in infrastructure through the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund, which he said, has been specifically designed to finance investments in Africa in support of regional integration.

“The EU cooperation with Nigeria is focused on improvements in governance in the broadest sense to include political, economic and social governance.

“The fundamental objective of the cooperation programme is poverty alleviation. The EU cooperation programme with Nigeria is large – it is the EU’s largest in Africa in fact,” he explained.

Macrae also disclosed that the EU fielded a large monitoring mission for last year’s elections and has been funding a programme of support for the electoral cycle involving INEC and civil society. “A further amount of €20 million has recently been approved for this”.

He stated: “Better governance involves the strengthening of key institutions which are needed for the effective delivery of basic social services. The EU is particularly active in the water and sanitation sectors. A programme of further support in six states (Anambra, Cross River, Osun, Jigawa, Yobe, Kano) has been approved and is expected to cost €80 million.”

To help improve the situation in the Niger Delta, Macae said, was a major programme of support of €200 million to assist with job creation, community development schemes and improvements in the water and sanitation sector of four affected states, which include Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo.

“I should emphasise that these amounts are all grants. In addition, the EU has a sizeable programme of support for the region managed with Economic Community of  West African States, which is intended to promote regional integration”, he added.