The World Bank has approved $2.2 billion for some six projects which border on economic development and expanding human capacity in Nigeria’s public and private space.
The approval is specifically to support Nigeria’s development priorities focused on improving immunisation, providing an enabling business environment for private sector, expanding the digital economy to promote job creation, and increasing capacity of public and private sector on governance, social and environmental safeguards.
“The World Bank is ramping up its support to Nigeria in its efforts to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty,” said Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank country director for Nigeria, in a mailed statement on Wednesday.
“These projects are focused on delivering better services to Nigerian citizens. This means ensuring that children are immunised and sleep under mosquito net, improving rural mobility with better roads and providing citizens with a unique identification number to be able to better target social safety nets,” Chaudhuri said.
According to the bank, the approved programme of support in fiscal year 2020 comprises Immunization Plus & Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming Services (IMPACT) which will strengthen health systems to deliver effective primary health care and improve immunisation, malaria control, and child and maternal health in selected states.
The project aims to improve vaccination coverage, the percentage of children under five who sleep under insecticide treated nets from 28 percent to 41 percent, and increase the percentage of women who receive post-natal check-ups from 47 percent to 55 percent. The project is financed under concessional terms through an International Development Association (IDA) credit of $650 million.
Another is the Nigeria Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project which will upgrade rural roads, improve connectivity and access to local markets and agrobusiness services in 13 states.
In particular, the project will upgrade about 1,600km of rural roads and improve 65 agro-logistics centres.
According to the World Bank, these interventions are expected to increase by up to 10 percent the proportion of population who live within 2km of an all-season road. The project is financed through an IDA credit of $280 million, co-financing of $230m from the French Development Agency and $65m from the Government of Nigeria.
The Nigeria Digital Identification for Development Project will support the National Identity Management Commission to increase the number of persons who have a national identification number (NIN) reaching about 150 million in the next couple of years.
“This will enable people in Nigeria, especially marginalised groups, to access welfare-enhancing services,” the World Bank noted.
The project will also enhance the ID system’s legal and technical safeguards to protect personal data and privacy. This is financed through an IDA credit of $115 million and co-financing of $100 million from the French Agency for Development and $215 million from the European Investment Bank.
Part of the funding is also for the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project expected to catalyse private investment in the state by improving the business-enabling environment, strengthening agri-food value-chains and upgrading skills.
Amongst some of the key results, the project will support the issuance of 15,000 Certificates of Occupancy, facilitate off- taker arrangements with agribusinesses for up to 40,000 farmers and improve STEM teaching in up to 70 percent of public secondary schools. This is financed through an IDA credit of $250 million.
There is also an Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills Project which is expected to strengthen the skills of 50,000 Nigerian students and enhance the capacity of technical teachers to better equip them for jobs in the formal and informal sectors.
The project will increase female enrolment rate from 13 percent to 23 percent in technical colleges and provide recognised skills and certification to 3,000 youths after completing an informal apprenticeship. This is financed through an IDA credit of $200 million, the bank stressed.
The Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project (SPESSE) will strengthen capacity in managing procurement, environmental and social standards in the public and private sectors.
The project will enhance the skills of 21,240 persons and facilitate certification of 4,000 practitioners in procurement, environment and social standards. It will also ensure that accredited degree programs meet International Best Practice and Good International Industry Practice (GIIP) in these areas. This is financed through an IDA credit of $80 million.
About 1.6 billion people live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $21 billion over the last three years, with about 61 percent going to Africa.
ONYINYE NWACHUKWU, Abuja
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