THE NATION
As part of measures to revive and reposition the 32 Rural Development Authorities (RDAs) in Bayelsa State for effective service delivery, the government says it is considering to use them as channels of rural project execution.
The Deputy Governor, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, stated this when the executives of the G-32 Principal Officers’ Forum paid him a courtesy call at his office in Government House, Yenagoa, at the weekend.
Ewhrudjakpo in a statement by his media aide, Mr Doubara Atasi, lamented that the inadvertent decline of financial support to the RDAs began as far back as 2017 in the wake of the economic recession that engulfed the country.
He noted that government was not unmindful of the present state of the RDAs, hence it was necessary to review their funding and operations to make them functional platforms for grassroots development.
To this end, he promised to send a proposal to the governor for the approval of a monthly project fund for each of the RDAs to enable them to carry out rural development projects on community by community basis within their areas.
On the request by the principal officers for an upward review of their monthly imprest, employment of security guards and procurement of office furniture, the Deputy Governor assured them that government would look into the issues within the shortest time possible.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the G-32 Principal Officers’ Forum, Mr. Enai Gbologbegha, said the RDAs were currently bedevilled by a lot of operational challenges ranging from lack of conducive work environment, inadequate running cost to acute shortage of security guards.
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