The Federal Government and the European Union in Abuja on Tuesday signed 15 million Euro (N3.3 billion) grant agreement to support the upcoming 2015 general elections in Nigeria.
The Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, signed on behalf of the Federal Government, while Michel Arrion, the Ambassador of EU to Nigeria, signed for the union.
Suleiman said that the grant was to support Nigeria in scaling up its activities in preparation for the 2015 general elections.
He said that the support was also to strengthen strategic planning, policy and operational capacities of the Electoral Management Body, including an improved legal framework for election.
According to him, the programme of support to electoral cycle in Nigeria is conceived to support the Civil Society Organisations involved in electoral process to strengthen democracy.
He said: “The financing agreement for Phase II of the support to Nigeria’s electoral cycle for the period of the 2011 to 2015 will be supported under the 11th European Development Fund bridging facility.
“The 11th EDF bridging facility is a method of financing used by the International Development Partners to make available funds for implementation of ongoing programmes and projects.”
Arrion, who was represented by the Deputy Head of EU Delegation to Nigeria, Richard Young, said the 11th EDF’s 15 million Euro, was to complement the 10th EDF’s 20 million Euro, totalling 35 million Euro.
He recalled that the 10th EDF support to electoral cycle was ongoing, but allocated resources under it was not enough to support activities in the upcoming election.
Arrion stressed the need for the support from the EDF bridging facility to cope with the transition period between the 10th and 11th EDF.
He said that the Federal Government had on June 20 signed the 11th EDF National Indicative programme with the EU to implement programmes such as health, nutrition and resilience.
Other programmes are Sustainable Energy and Access to electricity, Rule of Law, Governance and Democracy sectors.
Dauoda Toure, the UN Development Programme Resident Representative, said the UNDP would implement the project to ensure capacity building of stakeholders before the elections.
Toure, who was represented by Bernard Coco, said the UNDP would give its technical expertise to boost the skill of all stakeholders across the country.
In a related development, Suleiman and Gu Kiaojie, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, also signed 10 million Yuan (N1.6 billion) grant aid intervention to support Nigeria’s health sector.
Kiaojie said the Chinese Government assisted the Federal Government on the identified gaps as presented by the Federal Ministry of Health during a meeting with the International Development partners on August 28.
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