The World Bank has unfolded a package which would see it spending up to $2.1 billion in rebuilding the badly devastated North-eastern part of Nigeria, ravaged for the past six years by the Boko Haram insurgency.
At a meeting in Washington today with representatives of the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization (WHO), President Buhari said apart from rebuilding the region in terms of infrastructure, priority must also be given to the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who now number over one million.
He urged the World Bank to send a team, which would work in concert with a team from the Federal Government, so that a proper assessment of needs could be done.
Read Also:
The World Bank will spend the 2.1 billion dollars through its IDA (International Development Agency), which gives low interest rate loans to government. The first 10 years will be interest free, while an additional 30 years will be at lower than capital market rate.
The World Bank is eager to move in quickly, give out the loans, and give succor to the people of North-east, long at the mercy of an insurgency that has claimed over 20,000 souls.
WHO is also to invest 300 million dollars on immunization against malaria in Nigeria, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will collaborate with Dangote Foundation to ensure that the country maintains its zero polio case record of the past one year. If the effort is sustained for another two years, Nigeria will be declared fully free of polio.
FEMI ADESINA
SPECIAL ADVISER, MEDIA AND PUBLICITY
Kidnapped School Children
Yauri FGC Students, Kebbi (Freed)The last victims released spent 707 days from June 17, 2021 - May 25, 2023
Baptist School Students, Kaduna (Freed)
Spent 850 Day from July 5, 2022 to November 2, 2023
Tegina Islamiya Pupils, Niger (Freed)
Spent 88 days from May 30, 2021 - August 26, 2021
Report By: PRNigeria.com
