By Adedapo Adesanya
The World Bank has approved a loan of $2.2 billion for Nigeria for the completion of six development projects across the country.
The global lender said on Wednesday that the approved projects are to support Nigeria’s development priorities with special focus on improving immunisation and also providing an enabling business environment for the private sector, expanding the digital economy to promote job creation, increasing the capacity of public and private sector on governance, social and environmental measures as well rural development.
A statement signed by the Country Director, Mr Shubham Chaudhuri, on Wednesday, added that the projects are focused on delivering better services to Nigerian citizens.
“The projects focus squarely on delivering better services for Nigerians ensuring that children are immunized and sleep under mosquito nets, building better roads especially in rural areas, and providing Nigeria’s poorest citizens with a unique identification that will make social safety nets and services more effective,” he said.
These six projects include: Nigeria Digital Identification for Development Project which will support the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to increase the number of persons who have a national identification number (NIN) to 150 million in the next three years.
Also reserved is the Nigeria Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, this is meant to upgrade rural roads and improve connectivity and access to local markets and agribusiness services in 13 states.
To strengthen health systems and improve immunization in the country, the World Bank with the Immunization Plus and Malaria Progress by Accelerating Coverage and Transforming (IMPACT) services are set to deliver effective primary health care.
The loan is expected to strengthen the skills of 50,000 Nigerian students and enhance the capacity of technical teachers through the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills Project.
Ogun State will also benefit through the Economic Transformation Project that help private sector investment in Ogun State by improving the business environment, strengthening the linkages between agricultural producers, suppliers and service providers.
The final project is the Sustainable Procurement, Environment and Social Standards Enhancement Project which is aimed at strengthening capacity in managing procurement, environmental and social standards in the public and private sectors.
The World Bank also disclosed that these projects have been financed with funds from the French Development Agency, the European Investment Bank, the International Development Association (IDA) and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The new loan facility will push Nigeria’s total debt up even as the World Bank itself has expressed worries as its outstanding loans to Nigeria stood at $8.3 billion and with this new tranche, it will above $10 billion.
