We have more funding for Nigerian projects this year, says World Bank official

The World Bank says there is more financial support for Nigeria this year.

Ndiame Diop, World Bank country director for Nigeria, spoke to journalists after the launch of the country’s development update report in Abuja.

On September 24, the Washington-based organisation had approved three new financing totalling $1.57 billion to support Nigeria.

Diop said while Nigeria is qualified for more technical and financial support, what matters is the implementation.

“Nigeria is a very important partner for the World Bank,” Diop said.

“And we’ve been providing technical support but also financing. Our financing comes with technical support, implementation support and really making sure that things go according to plan.

“In addition to the concessionality in the financing, because much of what we provide to Nigeria in financing is concessional, the other reason many countries are really interested in working with us is that it’s not just financing. It’s also about implementation and making sure that you get results from that financing.

“And making sure that the financing enables something in the country, enables the institution, enables people so that we can achieve sustainability goals.

“Yes, we will keep giving loans. We do actually have funding in our pipeline for this fiscal year for several projects financed by the World Bank.

“These are government projects implemented mostly by the states, but also in the federal government, which span across human capital, such as health, primary health care, but also education, rural roads, irrigation and dam safety.

“All of those projects are being processed right now for Nigeria for this year.”

Diop said the lender is addressing some of the issues discussed at the event, “such as support to local SMEs, farmers, women in locality to help them really cope with the rising cost”.

‘NO INTENTIONS TO KEEP NIGERIA DOWN’

On his part, Alex Sienaert, lead economist for the World Bank in Nigeria, says the institution has no intention to keep the country or its people down.

“I’m in this position of having been the lead economist at the World Bank here in Nigeria on economic policy issues for two years now, and I just want to tell you that I’ve not seen any conspiracy within the World Bank or otherwise to keep Nigeria down,” Sienaert said.

“The World Bank is here to help, I’m here to help. Our whole team is here to help. We’re here to provide advice and low cost financing in support of Nigeria getting its own house in order for its own sake.”

The economist also said  President Bola Tinubu’s signature reforms, though painful, could help Nigeria to overcome its challenges.

“If that chance crystallises, it will transform Nigeria and Africa,” he said.

“We got where we are now that major policy reforms are starting to yield positive results, as mentioned, if we take a look at GDP, so the aggregate output of the economy has actually been pretty resilient.”

Sienert said it is important for Nigeria to stay the course in its reform direction.