By
Abubakar Ibrahim
A non governmental organization CARITAS with the support of Norweigian Agency for Development NORAD and the ministry of foreign affairs in Nigeria, has unveiled a solar powered borehole and a multipurpose storage facility to Sabon Gari and Ngla communities of Uba-Gaya local government area of Borno State.
The storage facility has a capacity of storing about 2000 of 100 kg bags of grains and orther farm produce which was aimed to help people of the community with ease of facilitation and storage of food for rainy season and irrigation farming and a borehole with high capacity to ease access to water for people of both communities.
Speaking shortly after unveiling of the facility,the Director humanitarian services for CARITAS Nigeria, Ms. Nkese Maria Udongwo said the project was aimed to build the resilience of people that have been conflict afflicted to bring them up from being dependent on humanitarian assistance to build their own means of livelihood in order to help themselves.
She noted that as part of the intervention project, they did irrigation farming and trained the farmers on agricultural practices by giving them irrigation machines and taught them the technical know how on handling them adding that they also rehabilitated boreholes and trained the people on how to produce organic manure, fertilizer and herbicides and trained their women on how to make tom bround for self reliance and to minimize the effect of malnutrition.
Also speaking, Mr Agidah Michael Adie who is the senior program manager, in the humanitarian department with CARITAS Nigeria, said besides the ability of the intervention to build and rehabilitate boreholes, it also aimed to put smiles on the faces of members of the community by empowering their women through financial support to start businesses to depend on themselves.
He added that another component of the program is food security target with the view to taking the people of that communities out of hunger.
He said the reason for choosing such communities specifically was to reduce their hardships as communities that went through hardship of insurgency as the only way to support them.
Responding on behalf of the benefitted communities of Ngala and Sabon gari, the Chairman Askira Uba local government represented by Mallam Zanna Galadima, appreciated the Norweigian Agency for Development, CARITAS and ministry for foreign affairs for funding and supporting the project assuring them of judicious ustilization of the facilities to reciprocate the gesture.
Throughout the intervention period, the CARITAS Nigeria, was able to reachout to over sixty thousand persons, converted about five regular pumping boreholes to solar powered ones, rehabilitated some dilapidated taps, drilling of shallow well, and distribution of water pump machines for irrigation farming, distribution of vegetable seedings among others under Empowering Rural Community and Development Program in Adamawa and Borno States.
There was a symbolic presentation of cash and ATM cards to women beneficiaries of financial support for business start ups.
