By Umar Akilu Majeri, Dutse
The World Bank has sunk over N700 million naira to run the J cares projects in Jigawa State.
Meanwhile, the Jigawa State government on its part has paid one billion naira to boost the programme for more people to benefit.The Project Manager of the programme in Jigawa State, Alhaji Umar Idris has disclosed.
Umar Idris said that the J Cares projects in the state are categorised into various departments. These departments include: Ministries of Agriculture; Commerce; Women Affairs; Cash Transfer Office and Fadama Office.
He explained further that all the departments received monetary allocations from N Cares under the World Bank projects.
According J Cares Coordinator in the state, Malam Idris Umar said that Fadama received the sum of N678 million, while Ministry of Agriculture received N36 million only for the projects. Also, the State Ministry of Commerce received the sum of N204 million.
The Coordinator added that the Cash Transfer Office under the Ministry of Women Affairs received the sum of N356 million, as N51 million went to the Ministry of Women Affairs.
It was reliably gathered that the companies registered with NASSI, and Ministry of Commerce were not being carried along to participate under the project .
It was gathered that most of the corporate companies under Commerce and those registered under Small Scale Industries were sidelined by J Cares officials.
They accused them of involving their private and relatives’ companies to participate in procurement and supplying of materials to J Cares projects.
When contacted on the matter, the Coordinator of J Cares, Alhaji Umar Idris said he was not aware of the issues. He promised to call an emergency meeting of all J Cares officials posted to the concerned ministries and parastatals to discuss on the issue.
He assured that whosoever that is found wanting, his/her ministry or parastatal would take action to bring him/her to book, moreso that most of them are civil servants.
The Coordinator in fury said , “I will not take it lightly, this issue is a very serious one. We must tackle the problem before it degenerates”.
The National Association of Small Scale Industries (NASSI), has said 118 companies are eligible to participate in the J Cares programmes.
The State Coordinator of NASSI, Alhaji Danlami said that NASSI has registered 86 companies under Corporate Affairs Commission ( CAC), and 32 Cooperative Societies making a total of 118 companies.
He commended the J Cares committees formed by Jigawa State government for screening the companies registered under the Ministry of Commerce .
Danlami noted that out of 118 companies registered under NASSI 40 per cent has successfully been registered to benefit from J Cares projects in the state.
He therefore called on the J Cares committee to involve more companies who are fully registered with the Ministry of Commerce and NASSI, that are qualified to participate in the projects.
He also thanked the state government for paying its counter fund of one billion naira for the take off of the projects.
Dan lami who spoke on behalf of NASSI, appreciated the state governor, Badaru Abubakar for making the programme a reality.
He stated further that the state has done well by following the due process in training members of Small Scale Enterprises on how their companies would participate in contract activities in the state.
It is reliably gathered that most of the qualified registered companies were not being carried along to participate in the projects.
It has been alleged that majority of executives who handled the J Cares projects facilitated the award of some of the contracts to their own companies, abandoning the qualified companies registered under NASSI and others who had registered with Ministry of Commerce for the past twenty years.