Good afternoon. It is a pleasure to be at the World Bank. Thank you for having us. We are here to say your partnership with us in developing Kogi State is invaluable and you are appreciated. The World Bank-assisted Projects across the State have helped us a great deal in bridging the huge gully between our efforts and our needs. I am especially grateful that over the years what some like to call your 'difficult' processes and requirements have helped to keep us incentivised towards accountability in our stewardship.
I am glad to inform you that we consider the Kogi State Government to be in a mutually affirming relationship with the World Bank Group. We made it a cardinal aim of our Administration to comply with your partnership protocols and in return you have unlocked access to a portfolio of World Bank assisted projects which helped to further position the State on a path to sustainable growth and development in alignment with our New Direction Blueprint and the State Masterplan.
Shortly after we assumed Office on January 27, 2016 we developed and presented what we call the New Direction Blueprint. It remains our roadmap for accelerated development of Kogi State in all her constituencies. By implementing our Blueprint in the five thematic areas of Education, Health, Infrastructure cum Utilities, Job Creation cum Youth Engagement and Civil Service and Pension Reforms, we have made serious progress towards our avowed mission of improving the multidimensional poverty indices of our state. There is no doubt at all that we have benefitted greatly from the World Bank's partnership and projects in meeting our objectives.
Sometimes last year, my government also prepared and launched a 32-Year Infrastructure Master Plan as a framework for achieving integrated infrastructural development and overall economic growth of the State. The masterplan was also designed as a tool for engaging International Development Partners and Private Sector Investors for long-term sustainable financing options in support of the State’s budgetary provisions.
A major objective of our visit here today is to remind you of our request for a World Bank development finance credit in the sum of $350,000,000.00 (Three hundred and Fifty million US Dollars) for the social and infrastructure development projects outlined in the aforesaid masterplan.
We all know how natural disaster by flooding attributable to Climate Change has become an annual occurrence in states along the banks of the Rivers Niger and Benue. Kogi State is the undisputed epicenter, being the Confluence where both rivers meet, join forces and continue their rampage towards the ocean.
The past few years have been particularly hard on us in this regard. Nine (9) of our Local Government Areas suffer intensive flooding for about 5 weeks on the average each year followed by long months of difficult recovery only to be hit again the next rainy season. This perrenial flooding and the associated loss of lives and damage to properties was catastrophic in 2018. Over 200,000 people were displaced. We catered for nearly 60,000 persons at one time or the other in about 40 IDP camps. The rest, thousands of internally displaced people, were forced to take shelter with friends and families wherever they could.
Thousands of hectares of farmland were destroyed, along with hundreds of homes. Our roads, bridges, water, electricity and other infrastructure washed away on a massive scale across the state to the extent that the President was forced to declare a state of natural disaster and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the armed forces were scrambled for the relief effort. The World Bank also stood by us in those trying times and for that we are grateful.
The disaster patterns and rising water levels make it clear that this annual flooding will remain our reality for now, making it imperative that we start thinking long term solutions. Even as we speak, the water levels are rising already. Certainly, wholesale and permanent resettlement to higher grounds of low lying communities in several Local Government Areas has become imperative. This simply means that our housing and allied needs are higher and more critical than most States in the country. It is also not a project that any state government can undertake alone. Therefore we urge the World Bank to prioritise an intervention for the relocation of inhabitants of flood prone areas to new settlements upland.
We are also grateful for your efforts in reduction of environmental degradation across several erosion sites in our state under the NEWMAP project and the building of beach embankments. Eleven (11) sites were selected and approved for execution by World Bank. Eight (8) sites are classified critical and three (3) are actually emergencies in need of urgent intervention, namely Lokoja Greater Waterworks erosion site, Federal University Lokoja permanent site and Afor gam-gam erosion site.
We urge the World Bank to still invest some urgency in tackling these rapidly expanding sites, especially the Lokoja Greater Waterworks erosion site which threatens to eat up the only source of water for Lokoja our state capital.
It is also important to point out that engineering designs for two gully erosion sites, Agassa and Adumu, have been approved and awarded for execution by the Bank while Invitation for Bids for the Ozuri erosion site has been published both by the World Bank and by us which means work will start soon at the sites. For these, and for everything, we are grateful.
Agriculture is the main stay of the economy and the oil well of Kogi State. One of the most important priorities of my Government is the development of the downstream agro-business sector of the State through increased participation of our government and farmers in the agricultural value chain in food production.
The Kogi State FADAMA Project has come in handy in supporting cassava and rice value chain activities with cultivation and processing activities ongoing in all 21 LGAs of the State. 124 production clusters and 808 production groups were formed with 9532 farmers registered. As at 2018, 85% of beneficiaries saw their income increased by at least 40%. Importantly, in the last 3 years an average yield of 23.5 ton/ha has been recorded under the FADAMA III AF Intervention, translating to an increase of 82.3% above the baseline figure of 12.89 ton/ha.
The World Bank has also proved a trusty partner in agriculture and we commend her again even as we underline the challenges ranging from threat to farmers and their crops by criminal pastoralists as well as delay in reallocation of funds to some grants which hinder implementation of firm commitment to beneficiaries.
The World Bank has been exceptional in supporting our health sector, particularly in Primary Health Care Development. We have 834 Primary Health Centers (PHCs) across the 21 LGAs and 332 or 38% of PHCs have received support under the Saving One Million Lives (SOML) project. 502 PHCs or 62% are not being supported at present. We request for extension of the World Bank’s support under this project to all PHCs in the State before the SOML rounds off by December 2019.
Other areas we need the World Bank to step in or scale up support to help our health sector meet strategic objectives include:
Supply of Operational Vehicles for monitoring, push and pull of vaccines.
Improving Community Engagers/Traditional Institution Engagement Framework to strengthen social mobilization and community outreaches.
Provision of Solar Power for cold stores in the 21 Local Government headquarters in the state.
Logistical support to set up a Drone Delivery Service for drugs, blood and light medical supplies to remote communities.
Human resource development and equipping.
Improving medical waste management.
In conclusion, let no one misunderstand the purpose of my visit here today. I am here as the Governor of Kogi State, with principal officers of my administration to thank the World Bank for her exceptional and multi-sectoral development support in and for our state and people. We are indeed very grateful for all you do.
However, like Oliver Twist, I must also ask for more. Since events such as these come few and far between, I have taken the opportunity to apprise you of other areas where we still need the Bank's partnership.
As a government and in spite of the poor financial season we are currently going through in Nigeria, we re-commit to prompt fulfilment of our own counterpart partnership obligations. As we speak, the Kogi State Government has approved an additional sum of N1billion towards our counterpart funding obligations to the World Bank.
Thank you and God bless.
YAHAYA BELLO
Governor of Kogi State.
18 July, 2019.