The Ondo State
government said it has executed and completed 230 projects in the rural
areas of the state at the tune of N1.5 billion, in the last two years of
the present administration. It revealed that a sum of N1.3bn has been
set apart in the current budget for rural development .
The State Director
of Community Development Services, Sam Fademiyi, representing the
Permanent Secretary, Community Development Services, disclosed this on
Wednesday in Abuja at a conference on ‘Community Development
Foundations’ and their contributions to achieving sustainable community
development in the Niger Delta, facilitated by the Pro-Natura
International Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation.
Mr. Fademiyi said
that in the past 35 years that the state has been created, no deliberate
attempt has been made by previous administrations in the state on rural
development until the present administration came on board, creating a
ministry that caters for rural development. He also said that the
essence of creating the ministry by the governor was to restore
confidence to the rural people that has lost faith in government of the
previous administration and as well as allow them to drive rural
development.
He revealed that
N500m has been set-aside for communities that embark on self help
project which the government will reimburse. He said that the government
allows the people to pick their representatives that monitor the
project and as well as involve local contractors from the communities to
execute the projects.
