Insurgency-affected Adamawa Communities Get Norway-Funded Projects

Communities in the northern part of Adamawa State which suffered damage done by the Boko Haram insurgents have benefitted from interventions funded by the government of Norway.

The senior programmes manager, Agidah Michael said the interventions which include provision of boreholes, building of grain storage facilities as well as training and empowering of residents for dry season farming are meant to reduce vulnerability of the people affected by insurgents.

“This is a project funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through CARITAS Norway and implemented by CARITAS Nigeria.

“These people live below the poverty line and CARITAS is here to contribute to efforts to uplift the people,” he said.

The director, Humanitarian Services of CARITAS Nigeria, Nkese Maria Udonnewo, gave further insight into the project, saying that “We came to commission a storage facility in Askira UBA. We’re trying to build the resilience of conflict-afflicted people so that they can help themselves.

“On this programme, we have done irrigation farming; we train the farmers, give them irrigation machines and train them on how to use them for dry season farming.

“We also rehabilitated boreholes, converted some broken down boreholes to solar powered ones so that they do not have to buy fuel to pump up water. We also trained the people on how to produce organic manure, that is organic fertilizers.

“With this particular project, we have been able to reach over 60,000 persons. We converted five boreholes to solar-powered facilities; rehabilitated some hand pumps and we have been able to construct two new solar-powered boreholes in communities that need them.”