Expert advocates ICT in Fadama implementation for North East

The Media Consultant for World Bank, Tunde Oladunjoye, has advocated for the effective use of Information and Communication Technology for successful implementation of second Additional Financing (AF) II in the North-East Nigeria.

Oladunjoye gave this advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja last Thursday. He added that the success of Fadama III AF in Nigeria was traced to effective role of information and communication.

He said that communication was the vehicle with which the aims and objectives of an organisation were transported to its internal and external publics and feedback obtained for the attainment of set goals.

“The contribution from both local and International media generated a lot of awareness creation for Fadama III AF Project all over the country and abroad. The use of Mass media in the project communication strategy is a well-informed decision because they have the monopoly of the airwaves, airtime, as well as the professional competence,” he said.

NAN reports that the North-East is a major agrarian region blessed with natural and agricultural resources such as groundnut, rice, tomato, yam, sorghum, cattle hide and beef, pepper, citrus, among others.

According to him, the World Bank rightly declares that sustained and well-designed communication about the project will be critical to its effectiveness and the transparency of all its processes.

“The credibility of the intervention with returning farmers and the wider project community would be a great achievement of the project in the region. Strong and open communications, with demonstrably effective grievance redressed mechanisms, will also help limit negative criticisms and risks for those supporting the project and its goals.

“The communication is the project and the project is the communication because effective use of it is the key to success,” he said.

He said the role of the World Bank toward the success of the project was to provide accurate and timely information about the progress and issues in line with its transparency and in the interest of proactive outreach. Oladunjoye suggested formal and informal channels, local, national, and international media, print, radio and television stations, social media as channels of information and communication to be used in the project implementation.

Others, he added, should be interactive sessions, which would include online newspapers, magazines, radio and TV stations, specialised journals on agriculture and development, community radio and AF II ambassadors. He also called for the inputs by religious leaders, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs and Community-based Originations (CBOs), community leaders and traditional rulers and interactive session for the stakeholders in the implementation of the project.

He said that facility tours and field surveys and capacity building for the project staff, through local and international training, would go a long way to aid the success of the project.