The World Bank has approved $1.57bn for health, dam projects and irrigation in Nigeria.
The approval was made on September 26, 2024, according to a statement from the Washington-based institution seen by NewsNGR.
“The World Bank has today approved three operations for a total of
$1.57bn to support the Government of Nigeria in strengthening 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 lender said.
The World Bank said the new $1.57bn 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 World Bank, the HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programs combined would support the federal government of Nigeria to improve service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors, which are critical to improving
Nigeria’s human capital outcomes.
On the benefits of the loan, the institution said the SPIN project will support improvement of dams’ safety and
management of water resources for hydropower and irrigation in selected areas of Nigeria.
It also said that the HOPE-GOV Program would support Nigeria to address underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government in two key human development sectors.
According to the World Bank, HOPE-GOV 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.
It said the program will increase availability and effectiveness of financing for basic education and primary healthcare service delivery, enhance transparency and accountability of financing and improve recruitment, deployment and performance management of basic education teachers and primary healthcare workers by federal, state, and local governments.
World Bank said, “In support of the government’s newly launched reforms in the health sector, under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, the HOPE-PHC project will improve the quality and utilization of core reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition services to substantially reduce maternal and under five mortality and to improve the resilience of the health system— benefiting 40 million people, especially vulnerable populations.
“The project is financed by a concessional $500m International Development Association (IDA) credit and an additional $70m in grant financing from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF).
“The GFF support includes $11m from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and $12.5m from the Children’s Investment Foundation Fund (CIFF) through joint financing with the GFF to help close the financing gap for primary and community healthcare and maternal newborn care at hospital-level, while also supporting government efforts to ensure sustainable financing for family planning commodities.”
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Dr. Ndiamé Diop, said effective investment in the health and education of Nigerians today is central to increasing their future
employment opportunities, productivity, and earnings, while reducing poverty of the most vulnerable.
“This new financing for human capital and primary healthcare will help to address the complex difficulties faced by Nigerians especially women and girls around access and quality of services, but also the governance arrangements that also explain these difficulties
“The SPIN program is timely and will protect Nigerians from floods and droughts in the areas where it will be implemented, while enabling an increase in hydropower generation. The direct positive impact of this project on people and livelihoods is enormous, The World Bank is pleased to work with the government and other stakeholders to deliver this program”.