PLAN International Nigeria expended N150 billion on projects in 10 years –Official

PLAN International Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), said on Thursday that it has attracted, spent and accounted for over N150 billion on developmental projects in Nigeria in the last 10 years of operating in the country.

The Country Director, Charles Usie, disclosed this in Abuja during an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the organisation in Nigeria.

Mr Usie said the organisation deployed over 85 years of experience from across 75 countries to advance the rights of children and equality for young girls in Nigeria in the last 10 years.

He said: “For you to be able to account for an average of N15 billion every year and none of us have ended up being imprisoned or ended up at EFCC quarters, there’s something to celebrate among Nigerians. It is a significant milestone for us and we are proud of these achievements.”

Mr Usie said the organisation has been involved in the construction and rehabilitation of at least 520 schools and 120 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) in Nigeria and implemented 103 projects during the period under review.

He added that while 27 projects are still ongoing across 19 states, over 36 million Nigerians have benefited from its projects.

The organisation also presented a strategy to reach 20 million girls through its projects in the next five years (2024 – 2028).

PLAN in collaboration with three Nigerian banks also presented a N80 million Youth Challenge Fund to eight youth-led organisations –one each from each geo-political zone–, one group of girls with disabilities and Girls Get Equal group. The banks are; Eco Bank, Fidelity Bank and Zenith Bank.

Plan International presents dummy cheques of N10 million each to eight youth groups

Plan International presents a dummy cheque of N10 million each to eight youth groups

2024-2028 Strategy

Launching the organisation’s strategy for the next five years (2024 – 2028), the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager of the organisation, Comfort Effiom, said the strategies are in line with Nigeria’s Development Plan 2021-2025 and eight Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

She listed the SDGs as; No poverty (SDG 1), Zero hunger (SDG 2), Good health and well-being (SDG 3), Quality education (SDG 4), Gender equality (SDG 5), Clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and Sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11).

Plan International presents strategy, targeting 20 million girls in five years

Ms Effiom noted that the strategy is aimed at helping at least “20 million girls to learn, to lead, to decide and to thrive.”

She added that they came up with the strategies after reviewing all the lessons learnt in the previous programmes executed by the organisation.

“We did a good review of our strategies. We gather the lessons we learnt from that strategy. We involved the young people, all partners and stakeholders and then we conducted an extensive situation analysis for a robust context analysis. We looked at Nigeria, political, economic, social, technological and legal context to come up with this strategy,” she said.

N80 million Youth Challenge Fund

Presenting the dummy cheques for Youth Challenge Fund, Mr Usie said six grantees were selected after a competitive process from the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

Plan International presents dummy cheques of N10 million each to eight youth groups

Plan International presents dummy cheques of N10 million each to eight youth groups

The Plan International Nigeria’s Girls Get Equal campaigners and an organisation that focuses on people with disability were also presented with the grant, making the grantees eight.

The grantees are: Girls Get Equal Nigeria, the Special Physically Challenged Care Foundation, Tomorrow is a Girl Initiative, and Halima Isah Usman Charity Foundation.

Others are the Open Knowledge Development Initiative, Spring of Hope for Girl Child Development, Access to Learning and School (Atlas) Initiative, and Street Mentors Network.

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“We are matching our strategy with actions, and today we are going to support several youth organisations with 10 million to go forth and make change for Nigerians, especially girls,” Mr Usie said.

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Plan International presents dummy cheques of N10 million each to eight youth groups

Plan International presents dummy cheques of N10 million each to eight youth groups

Plan International presents dummy cheques of N10 million each to eight youth groups