By Yunusa Isa, Gombe
The Gombe State Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) has organized a two-day training and capacity building workshop for five road projects benefitting stakeholders on Environmental and Social Management Plan.
Speaking to the participants drawn from various benefitting communities of Kwami, Funakaye, Nafada and Yamaltu Deba local government areas, the State Project Coordinator Engineer Salisu Abdullahi, said “The training is to sensitize stakeholders on the dos and don’ts during the execution of the projects. This is not only peculiar to contractors, but also to we the contract awardees, the consultants and the benefitting communities. We invited them to intimate them on what to do and what not to, particularly on gender based violence”.
He said all parties involved have signed a code of conduct agreement that no harm shall in any way be inflicted on the benefitting communities.
He advised the community members to guide their children especially the ladies who sell food and non food items to labourers on site, particularly on how and when to relate with labourers and contractors.
While encouraging the benefitting community members not to enchroach on the already compensated sites, engineer Salisu charged them to take ownership of the projects for the benefit of upcoming generations.
In his goodwill message, the special advisor to the state governor on donor agencies and development partners Dr Ishiyaku Babayo, commended RAAMP for the sensitization, describing it as welcome and timely developments.
While maintaining that the essence of the sensitization was to ensure successful and safe projects implementation across the benefitting communities, Dr Ishiyaku noted that “The road projects will open the agrarian communities and facilitate socioeconomic development”.
A gender based violence consultant and one of the capacity building facilitators, said the sensitization has intimated participants on the dangers and ways out to gender based violence, as well as measures to avoid such during the projects implementation.
Some participants, who spoke to news men during the training, expressed satisfaction with the knowledge gained, pledging to take it down to other members of their communities.
The five road projects are Dukul to Gafara to Shami Road, Gaɗam to Yami to Kyari to Malamsidi Road in Kwami Local Govt Area, Shalhori to Magaba to Wakkaltu in Funakaye and Nafada LGAs, Waɗe to Ƙoshi Road in Yamaltu Deba Local Government and the one from Talasse Junction to Garin Nabawa to Wushi.