ABUJA – The Federal Government on Tuesday pledged to implement the Global Environment Facility (GEF) VI cycle projects.
Mrs Rabi Jimeta, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Environment, made the pledge at the 8th GEF National Steering Committee Meeting in Abuja.
The GEF is a partnership for international cooperation where 183 countries work together with international institutions, civil society organisations and the private sector to address global environmental issues.
Jimeta said the implementation would contribute to achieving the development goals in the country.
The permanent secretary, who was represented by Mr Yomi Ladapo, the GEF Operational Focal Person and Director of Planning, Research and Statistics said the government was looking forward to harnessing the potential of stakeholders to implement the projects.
“I wish to assure you that the ministry is committed to more effective coordination of the GEF programmes and wish to continue to count on your cooperation to achieve the desired goals.
“I will continue to count on your cooperation as the GEF VI cycle is important to us.
“The projects and funds that will accrue will go a long way in developing the potentials of our citizens for development and toward achieving our national goals,’’ she said.
The permanent secretary, however, stressed the need for synergy among the relevant stakeholders in the effective management of the environment.
According to her, one of the projects in the GEF VI cycle will be on fostering sustainability and resilience for food security in the sub-Saharan Africa.
This, she said, was one of the three integrated approaches agreed as part of the sixth replenishment of the GEF.
“This is to target agro-ecological systems where the need to enhance food security is linked directly to opportunities for generating global environmental benefits.
“This project aims at promoting the sustainable management and resilience of eco-systems and their different services such as land, water, biodiversity and forest as a means to address food security,’’ she said.
In his own capacity, Ladapo said the GEF 6 cycle was crucial for the ministry to provide a platform to maximise GEF intervention in the country.
He said that implementing the projects would help the country to achieve sustainable development.
“It will serve as an instrument to translate government’s policies, agenda into practical and effective actions that will touch on the people’s national lives,’’ he said.
Mr Oladipo Osibo of the Sustainable Development Unit of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) commended Nigeria for the success recorded so far in implementing the GEF V projects.
Osibo, a Programme Officer at UNDP, who spoke on behalf of the GEF’s implementing agencies, urged the stakeholders to move with the same speed in implementing the GEF VI projects.
Also speaking, Mrs Phoebe Mshelia, the Coordinator of Women in Technical Education, Bauchi chapter, expressed appreciation to the ministry, UNDP and other stakeholders for supporting NGOs in implementing environmental initiatives.
Mshelia, who spoke on behalf of the NGOs, said that a good number of NGOs had benefited from GEF’s small grants to implement various projects in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting, organised by the ministry in collaboration with the GEF and UNDP, was to harmonise and finalise project proposals for GEF VI projects and consider new ones.
The project, which started on July 1, 2014, is expected to end on June 30, 2018. (NAN)
