The World Bank has approved three operations for a total of $1.57bn to support the Nigerian Government to strengthen human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents and building resilience to the effects of climate change, such as floods and droughts through improving dam safety and irrigation.
The new financing includes $500m for addressing governance issues that constrain the delivery of education and health (HOPE-GOV), $570m for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Program (HOPE-PHC) and $500m for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project (SPIN).
According to the statement issued on Monday in Abuja, the World Bank explained that the HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programmes combined will support improving service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors, which are critical to improving Nigeria’s human capital outcomes.
The SPIN project will support improving the safety of dams and the management of water resources for hydropower and irrigation in selected areas of Nigeria.
The HOPE-GOV Programme will address underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government in two key human development sectors.
It will particularly focus on critical cross-cutting challenges and enabling factors related to both financial and human resource management in basic education and primary healthcare sectors.
The approval, made on September 26, 2024, highlights the World Bank’s commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s human capital and building resilience in the face of climate threats.
It also indicates that Nigeria has secured a total of $6.52bn in loans from the World Bank under the administration of President Bola Tinubu amid concerns over the country’s rising external debt servicing costs.
GIK/APA