The World Bank has given approval for six development projects valued at about $2.1885 billion for execution in Nigeria in 2020.
According to the bank, the approved projects are to support Nigeria’s development priorities focused on improving immunization, providing an enabling business environment for the private sector, expanding the digital economy to promote job creation, and increasing the capacity of public and private sector on governance, social and environmental safeguards.
“Nigeria is central to the World Bank Group’s mission of tackling extreme poverty. The World Bank is carefully targeting its support on high impact projects as the country works to tackle corruption and lift 100 million of its people out of poverty,” World Bank Group President, David Malpass, said in a statement.
“These 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,” World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, added.
The project is targeted at strengthening health systems to deliver effective primary
health care and improve immunization, malaria control, and child and maternal health in selected states.
The World Bank projects is also aimed at broadening vaccination coverage, increase the percentage of children under five who sleep under insecticide-treated nets from 28 to 41 percent.
The project to be financed under concessional terms through an International Development Association (IDA) credit of $650 million will also improve the percentage of women who receive post-natal check-ups from 47 to 55 percent.
Another approved project was the Nigeria Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing
Project to upgrade rural roads and improve connectivity and access to local markets and agro-business services in 13 states.
