Stephen Olufemi Oni, Ilorin
A Civil Society Organisation, Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD) and a Kwara-based Non Governmental Organisation, Gobir Foundation, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of N26.5m to be channelled for infrastructural development across the 16 local government areas of Kwara state.
Disclosing this, the Deputy Coordinator of ENetSuD, Comrade Lanre Osho, while addressing journalists in Ilorin, said the deal was to enhance and facilitate the CSO’s set goals in line with its Citizens’ Enlightenment and Mobilisation Programme (CEMP) across the 193 wards of Kwara State.
Osho confirmed that the Foundation had dropped the sum of N10 million as the first tranche of the agreed sum to show its commitment to the agreement.
“It is a general knowledge that ENetsud is an anti-corruption civil society organisation that promotes good governance, accountability and transparency.
“We have noticed how corruption has led to huge infrastructural gaps in almost all of the 193 wards in Kwara state, which are evident by lack of potable water, affordable health care, a sound educational system, good road network, high rates of poverty and unemployment, among others.
“Our observation triggered us to design a programme called ‘Citizens Enlightenment and Mobilisation Programme (CEMP) which has needs assessment of Kwara communities as one of its activities,” he said.
He noted that the CEMP programme has been in place since 2020 and has been deployed in solving many problems in Kwara communities.
“The impact of our CEMP programme is what attracted the attention of our partner, Gobir Organisation Foundation, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding worth N26.5 million to properly assess the needs of all the 193 wards in Kwara state”, said the deputy coordinator.
Similarly, the acting Director of Community Services of ENetSuD, Fatima Dikko, stated that the establishment of CEMP has offered rural community people the opportunity to know their rights and entitlements from the government.
On what inspired him to partner with ENetSuD, the Chief Executive Officer and financial of Gobir Organisation Foundation, Waziri Yakubu Gobir, said his Foundation was primarily set up to improve the quality of lives of the people of the State, adding that the Foundation in the past five years the Foundation has touched thousands of lives.
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