World Bank Votes More $575m North-East Aid

The World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved $575 million additional financing in International Development Association (IDA) credit to scale up its support to the North-East of the country.
The information is contained in a statement obtained from World Bank’s website, yesterday, in Abuja.
It stated that the support fund would help to rebuild livelihoods in the region, which is home to 1.8 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
It noted that the Boko Haram insurgency had taken a toll on the six North-East states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe, “and the states cannot meet the most pressing needs of the millions of people affected by the ongoing conflict.’’
The World Bank estimated that some 15 million people had been affected by the crisis.
The bank stated that its Country Director for Nigeria, Rachid Benmessaoud, had said that the needs of the region were staggering.
The bank statement quoted Benmessaoud as saying “millions of people have lost their livelihoods, schools and health facilities have been destroyed and the psychosocial impact of the crisis must also be addressed.
“To help create economic opportunities for the most vulnerable, we have identified a set of initiatives that will have a quick and tangible impact on the population in four priority areas: agriculture, education, health and social protection.’’
The statement indicated that the World Bank support would be in four sectors.
In the social protection sector, $75 million would be for Nigeria’s Community and Social Development Project to provide immediate basic social infrastructure, as well as psychosocial support to communities most affected by displacement.
A financing of $100 million would be for Youth Employment and Social Support Operation to provide youth, women and unemployed, especially IDPs, returnees and persons with disabilities resulting from the crisis, with labour-intensive work and skills development opportunities.
In the agriculture sector, there would be $50 million for the Third Fadama Development Project to address the emergency needs of farmers by improving access to irrigation and drainage services.
In the education sector, $100 million would be allocated to the State Education Programme Investment Project to support the return to teaching and learning through financial incentives for teachers who have completed psycho-social training.
In the health sector, a financing of $125 million and a Global Financing Facility (GFF) trust fund grant of $20 million to the National State Health Investment Project would help to immediately re-establish health services.
This is with focus on maternal, newborn and child health, nutrition, psycho-social support and mental health.
In communities where health facilities have been destroyed, mobile clinics will be deployed to provide care, while additional financing of $125 million is for Polio Eradication Support Project to prevent any disruption in routine immunisation.