Nigeria gets 903m euro EU aid

By Daniel Essiet

NIGERIA received 903 million euro as aid from the European Union (EU) from 2013 to 2018.

This was contained in a study commissioned by the Policy and Operations Evaluation Department of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands to evaluate EU development cooperation with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) 2013-2018.

Among top SSA EU aid recipients within the review period included Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Somalia, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Kenya and South Africa.

Mali received E1197 million which was the highest and South Africa E769 million, the lowest.

The study added that Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Somalia, and Ethiopia have been among the top  10 SSA recipients of EU ODA over the last six years.

During  the period,  the  EU  institutions  (European  Commission  and  European  Investment  Bank) disbursed  a  total  of $28.5  billion  (EUR  23.7  billion)  in  overseas development  assistance( ODA)  to  Sub-Saharan  Africa.  The average disbursement, according to the study, was $4.77 billion  yearly, which is slightly higher than the $4.3 billion average for 2010-2012.

During this period, the EU  institutions and 28 member states disbursed EUR 76.8 billion to 49 Sub-Saharan African states.

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In terms of Secondary sector code distribution of EU development aid to SSA, Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing received $325,539 million in 2013; $370,536 million in 2014; $285,192 million in 2015 and $421,503 in 2016. The sector received $462,021 million in 2017 and $483,819 million in 2018.

With a  total  amount  of €32.77  billion  given out  globally during the period,  the    continent  was  the  main  recipient  of  EU development  funding  between  2013-2018.  More  than  70per cent  of this  amount (€23.76 billion) went to sub-Saharan Africa,  mostly through  bilateral  cooperation  and  additionally  through regional and  thematic allocations.

Although the large majority of EU aid to Sub-Saharan Africa was managed by the European Commission, around five per cent (€1.1 billion out of €23.7) was disbursed by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The ratio, the study noted, was  much lower than the share of EU aid disbursed by the EIB globally during 2013-2018, which represented almost a quarter of EU aid (€20.6 billion of the €88.1 billion disbursed in this period.