The Bayelsa State Government has reaffirmed its commitment to fulfilling its counterpart funding obligations for critical development projects and programmes in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Dr. Peter Akpe, stated this on Tuesday when officials of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Programme (RAAMP) paid a courtesy visit to the Government House, Yenagoa.
Akpe said the administration of Governor Douye Diri remains committed to prioritising infrastructure, particularly road and bridge construction, to achieve connectivity across the state in spite of its difficult terrain.
He explained that the Prosperity Government had adopted strategic partnerships as a model for executing key projects, adding that the approach had yielded positive results.
He commended RAAMP for creating access to rural communities and improving agricultural marketing, noting that the initiative would complement the state government’s drive to connect rural areas to the capital, Yenagoa, and boost socio-economic activities.
The deputy governor called on RAAMP and other development partners to consider Bayelsa’s peculiar terrain in their budgeting and project planning in the interest of equity and fairness.
“One of the approaches the Prosperity Government has adopted in its scheme of things is partnership. We are partnering with well-meaning organisations, institutions and individuals. And it has been yielding dividends because we understand the importance of partnership in executing laudable projects and programmes such as yours.
“So, it is not news to us that we are among the states that have met the criteria set for this particular programme. You have listed a lot of conditions we have fulfilled and just very few areas that we are yet to meet.
“But I want to assure you that we will also take care of those areas including the counterpart funding you mentioned,” he said.
Earlier, the team lead and Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of RAAMP, Mr. Chinedu Olisah, said $600 million donor funds are available for disbursement to states that meet the conditionalities for participation in the programme.
Olisah said $500 million would be provided by the World Bank, while $100 million would come from the Federal Government.
He lauded the state government for fulfilling key criteria, including the constitution of the boards of the Bayelsa State Rural Access Roads Authority (RARA) and the Bayelsa State Road Fund (SRF).
He appealed to the government to provide a take-off grant to enable the RARA office to function effectively, suggested merging the RARA and SRF offices, and emphasised the need for the state to meet its counterpart funding obligation.
