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World Bank okays $140m loan for Nigerian communities

By BusinessNews Staff on April 10, 2014

The World Bank has approved $140m additional support for community development in Nigeria.

A statement issued by the bank on Tuesday said 26 states were to benefit from the project, which will focus on the most vulnerable households in the country.

The amount is expected to fund micro projects such as the rehabilitation and construction of school classrooms, skills acquisition, environment, health, rural electrification, transport, water and rural market infrastructure, among others.

Vulnerable groups that will benefit from the grant, according to the statement, include internally displaced poor persons, marginalised or chronically poor households, widows and the physically challenged.

The World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, Mr. Foluso Okunmadewa, said the loan would help integrate the communities as well as make smart investments in people for the future.

“This project will not only help vulnerable people in the short-term, including those in conflict-affected areas, but will also help build long-lasting partnerships between the local governments and the communities,” he said.

The first phase of the Community Social Development Project, which benefited over 5,600 communities and about two million people in 26 states of the federation, is to close in December 2014, the statement added.

The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly, said a recent assessment of the project showed that school enrolment, immunisation, and access to electricity and safe water had all increased in the communities that benefited from the CSDP.

“In this new phase, the project will focus mainly on the most vulnerable people in line with the World Bank’s mission to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity,” she said.

[Punch]

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