By Tony Obiechina Abuja
The World Bank portfolio in Nigeria has risen to $17bn, making it the highest commitment to any country in Africa.
This was disclosed when a high-level delegation from the World Bank, led by Ousmane Diagana, Vice President for Western and Central Africa, met with the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun.
The meeting was part of moves by the bank to reaffirm its support for President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform agenda and development priorities.
The World Bank investments are targeted at helping Nigeria tackle its most pressing development priorities.
These include expanding access to essential services such as electricity, education, and healthcare; advancing gender inclusion and economic opportunities for women; and improving food security through enhanced agricultural productivity.
The World Bank chief stressed the need to maintain reform momentum to achieve inclusive, job-creating growth and highlighted Nigeria’s position as the World Bank’s largest portfolio in Africa, with commitments totalling around $17bn.
Diagana praised Nigeria’s recent gross domestic product growth rate of 3.4 per cent — the strongest since 2014. He also commended the government’s progress in stabilising the economy and improving portfolio performance.
He also welcomed Nigeria’s leadership on the M300 initiative — a pan-African drive to expand energy access to 300 million people — and urged faster implementation of social protection measures, particularly targeted cash transfers, following recent discussions with World Bank President Ajay Banga.
The minister reiterated the government’s focus on three key areas. They are improving project delivery speed, scaling up biometric verification for 15 million individuals on the national social register, and accelerating implementation of the M300 compact.
He announced the establishment of a Compact Delivery and Monitoring Unit and requested a status update to ensure the nation stays on track to set new records in project approval and execution.
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