Mr. Rachid Benmessaoud, Country Director, World Bank Group, says the bank’s net
commitment to Nigeria over the years is about 11 billion dollars.
He said on Thursday in Abuja at the maiden edition of the Nigeria Portfolio Performance
Award, organised in partnership with the Ministry of Finance.
The award was to recognise and honour outstanding performance from project
implementation units of the World Bank supported projects at states and federal levels.
According to him, the bank’s commitment is geared toward projects targeted at alleviating
poverty and improving the lives of the people.
He said that 60 percent of the bank’s programmes were implemented at the state level and
another 40 percent by the Federal Government.
Benmessaoud said that the bank’s portfolio in Nigeria was among the largest in the entire
African region, adding that it had more than 30 operational projects.
He said that the projects cut across health, education, agriculture, social protection, energy,
infrastructure, and governance among others in the 36 states of Nigeria, including Abuja.
He also said that the bank was working toward a new country partnership framework that
would outline the new reform challenge that the government faces and how it could
support it in implementing solutions to the challenge.
“The country partnership strategy is always anchored on the economic reform plan of the
government and in this case, we have used the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
Mr. Mahmud Isa-Dutse, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, restated the
ministry’s commitment to the World Bank in building an enabling environment to manage
its portfolio in Nigeria.
He added that the ministry would assist the bank deliver on all its projects implementation.
MM/GIK/APA