FG Secures €20m EU Commitment To Rebuild North East, Niger Delta
Kemi Adeosun, MInister Of Finance[/caption]
The Federal Government, on Monday, secured a €20 million European Union (EU) commitment to rebuild some parts of the North East and Niger Delta regions, Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adesosun has said.
Adeosun, in a statement by her Special Assistant on Media, Festus Akanbi, disclosed that the funds will be used mainly for the reconstruction of markets and warehouses in Borno and Delta States.
Michael Arrion, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria, during a visit to the minister’s office in Abuja, noted that both states would receive the said fund in form of budget support.
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“Sometime ago, we talked about budget support but we will be able to do that only at the State level, using a special instrument meant for countries emerging from war, and we can look at States in the North East and look at specific projects in terms of financial support to their budgets,” Arriomn said.
Speaking further, Mr Arrion stated that the EU’s decision to invest in Africa is part of its efforts to discourage illegal migrations by Nigerians to the Europe.
“We have specific objective for creating this instrument and it is to address the root cause of migration. We are presenting this initiative within the framework of the global response to irregular migration. Today we have a few thousand Nigerians in Europe, and we feel we have the responsibility of attracting them to come back to Nigeria,” he said.
“By investing in Africa, we will be creating jobs. We will be mixing grants with loans. We believe the grants will have a leveraged effect,” he said.
