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Tag: world bank

  • World Bank faults coverage gaps in social safety nets

    World Bank yesterday faulted an estimated 36 per cent of the very poor, or 50 million people, that escaped extreme poverty because of social safety nets.

    The global lender said despite the increased adoption of safety net programs by countries in recent years, global coverage of poor and vulnerable people remains inadequate, stating that about 2.5 billion people worldwide are covered by a social safety net of which 650 million are in the poorest 20 per cent.

    However, only one out of five persons living in a low-income country is covered by a social safety net. Furthermore, countries at high risk of natural disasters often have lower safety net coverage.

    It said the statistics provide clear evidence that social safety net programmes are making a substantial impact in the global fight against poverty. It said the impact of social safety nets on poverty is measured based on available household data by comparing the welfare of the safety nets beneficiaries to what it would have been had they not received such support.

    Data from the State of the Social Safety Nets 2018 report shows that safety nets—which include cash, in-kind transfers, social pensions, public works, and school feeding programmes targeted to poor and vulnerable households—also lower inequality, and reduce the poverty gap by about 45 per cent, even if they do not emerge from poverty. These positive effects of safety net transfers hold true for low and middle-income countries alike.

     

  • Kadauna $350m loan: Six Reps dissociate selves from caucus leader’s position 

    Six members of the House of Representatives from Kaduna state have dissociated themselves from the position of their caucus leader, Honourable Datti Babawo that they are in support of the state obtaining a $350 million from the World Bank.

    It would be recalled that the senate rejected the loan request by the state government from the World Bank following similar rejection by three members of the senate from the state.

    But a member of the House of Representatives, Datti Babawo alleged that all but one member of the House of Representatives from the state met and threw their weight behind the loan request.

    Refuting the claim, six members of the House of Representatives from the state alleged that Honourable Babawo spoke in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the group.

    The members who signed the statement included Hon. Jagaba Adams Jagaba – Kachia/Kagarko; Hon Lucas Gwani – Kaura; Hon. Barr. Simon Yakubu Arabo -Kauru; Hon. Nicholas Shehu Garba – Jema’a/Sanga; Hon. Barr. Sunday Marshall Katung – Jaba/Zangon- Kataf and Hon. Barr. Muhammad Musa Soba – Soba.

    According to them, “Our attention has been drawn to stories making the rounds in some National Dailies, Televisions and Social Media alleging that fifteen (15) members of the House of Representatives from Kaduna State have faulted the Senate’s disapproval of a $350m World Bank loan requested by the Kaduna State Government.

    “The news said that the Leader of the Kaduna State House of Reps Caucus, Hon. Datti Babawo (representing Sabon Gari Federal Constituency, Kaduna State), stated that all the fifteen (15) members out of sixteen (16) actually approved the $350m loan for the state because of the enormous benefits the State would derive from it.

    “First and foremost, the Kaduna State Caucus in the House of Reps has not elected a leader. It is therefore strange for Hon. Datti Babawo to arrogate such powers to himself.

    “Secondly, as members of House of Reps from Kaduna State, we never at any given time met to discuss the $350m loan, let alone taking a decision on it.

    “Thirdly, we operate a bicameral legislature in Nigeria, and to that extent, the House of Reps has no business questioning the decision(s) of the Senate. Both chambers operate independently and have mutual respect for each other in the spirit of the Constitution. In disapproving the loan therefore, the Senate acted within its constitutional powers. It is clear mischief and sheer ignorance for Hon. Datti to cast aspersion on the institution of the Senate.

    “Fourthly, in practice, loan approvals or otherwise, are carried out at plenary after exhaustive debate upon presentation by the relevant committee, and not by State Caucuses as mischievously portrayed by Hon. Datti.

    “Fifthly, we wish to reiterate that not all House of Reps members from Kaduna State are in support of the loan issue. It is on record that some members have spoken against incurring such a huge debt on the people of Kaduna State.

    “Finally, in view of the above, we wish to dissociate ourselves from the views expressed by Hon. Datti as they are entirely his own, seeing that he is neither the Leader nor the Spokesman of the Kaduna State Caucus in the House of Reps. The Senate acted within its constitutional powers and in the best interest of a majority of Kaduna State people. We therefore, cannot question its decision,” the group said.

    Read Also: El-Rufai: Kaduna needs $65b to fix infrastructure

  • Report: World Bank targets women economic inclusion

    Governments in 65 economies took steps to improve women’s economic inclusion, enacting 87 legal reforms in the past two years, says the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and Law 2018 report, has said.

    However, women continue to face widespread barriers, entrenched in laws that keep them out of jobs and prevent them from owning a business by restricting their access to credit or control over marital property, says the biennial report, which now monitors 189 economies.

    For example, it finds that in 104 economies women are barred from working at night or in certain jobs in many areas, including manufacturing, construction, energy, agriculture, water and transportation. This negatively affects the choices of more than 2.7 billion women.

    “No economy can grow to its full potential unless women and men participate fully,” said World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva.

    “Yet, in more than half the world women are still prevented from working in certain jobs simply because of their gender. The report finds that where there is gender equality in labor laws, more women work and earn more relative to men. Women should have the same equality of opportunity as men to provide for themselves, and to give their children the best start in life possible.”

    Now in its fifth edition, the report introduces, for the first time, a scoring system of 0 to 100, to better inform the reform agenda. Scores are assigned to every monitored economy on each of the report’s seven indicators: accessing institutions, using property, getting a job, providing incentives to work, going to court, building credit, and protecting women from violence.

     

  • Kaduna Reps fault senate’s rejection of $350m loan

     

    Fifteen members of the House of Representatives from Kaduna state have faulted the Senate’s rejection of the $350m World Bank loan request by the Kaduna State Government.

    The Senate had on Thursday rejected the request by the State for the $350m loan, saying it would worsen the debt profile of the state.

    The rejection was based on the recommendation of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt and the three senators from the state.

    However, the caucus members of the House of Representatives from Kaduna State thought otherwise.

    The caucus comprises of members drawn from the All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the House of Representatives from the state.

    The Leader of the House of Representatives Caucus, Datti Babawo, (representing Sabon Gari Federal Constituency,Kaduna State), insisted that all the fifteen members out of sixteen, actually approved the $350m for the state because of the enormous benefit the state would derived from the loan.

    Babawo noted that the Senate’s rejection of the loan was purely political which would at the long run, do the state no good.

    Speaking in an interview with newsmen on behalf of the fifteen other members on Tuesday in Kaduna, the lawmaker added that his colleagues supported the government’s plan to access the loan because they believe it would boost infrastructural development in the state.

    He described the Senate’s rejection of the loan as not only political but a reflection of the abuse of power by the three senators from the state who are supposed to put the interest of the people above their personal interests.

    He said: “On a monthly basis, the Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai whenever he comes to Abuja we always call for a meeting; the national assembly caucus, both the House of Representatives and the Senate; and tell about this loan. Initially, the three senators do attend the meeting but the two stopped coming, leaving only Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi to attending. But later, he too decided not to come.

    “We as caucus of the House of Representatives, about 15 of us out of 16 have approved the loan because we were fully briefed by the governor. He told us why he is looking for the loan. He is so passionate with the issue of education. He told us how he would want to revive education.

    “He had renovated more than 480 primary schools. When they found out that it was not easy after renovating over 480 schools. And the renovation was a full one; with chairs, toilet, water and many facilities and he had invited development partners, including telecommunication giant, the MTN, to assist.

    “But you find out that it was not that easy for the government alone to renovate the over 800 primary schools in the state. That led  the governor making proposal of $100m  to the World Bank. But the World Bank was impressed and asked that after the renovation of primary schools, what about the secondary schools, tertiary  the comatose industries and so on in the state.

    “On this basis, he then made another proposal to increase this loan to $350m to Kaduna State. The governor truly briefed us. It was that submission that the Minister of Finance saw and took it to her own governor(Ogun State) because of the enormous benefit to her state.

    “Her governor also applied for the same $350m. It was the same senate, condition and the same amount of money they approved but refused that of Kaduna State.

    “It is strictly political. It has nothing to do with development. The interest of those who were opposed to it were strictly for their own personal and selfish reason and for the benefit of the people of this state.”

    Babawo added, “People that don’t want to see the development of the education sector. The governor had planned to revived the education system. He has also made provision to build a comprehensive health centres for each of the 255 wards in the state with partnership with General Electronic of the USA.

    “They are the ones to equip these hospitals. And he has comprehensive plans for road development and Metrolines within the Kaduna Metropolis and how to revive the comatose industries. So, it is exactly what has happened.

    “That’s why we in the House of Representatives, are so enthusiastic and pass this without only one opposition, including the Peoples Democratic Party member. We sat, looked at all the agreement and we discovered that the loan is almost free. Even the interest is half percent and has a repayment period of 50 years. That’s why we supported the governor.

    “Anybody who knows our governor knows him as somebody that us hard working and straight forward. He is somebody that is not given to pretence. Whatever he wants to do, he goes straight and do it. We are convince and we positive on our side and that is why we supported that the loan be obtain by Kaduna State. Why is it that all the states’ loan were approved with the exception of Kaduna State. It is politics.” He argued.

  • World Bank, EU train workers

    The World Bank and the European Union (EU) in collaboration with Delta State Government has started the training of over 100 workers drawn from 52 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the state on financial reforms.

    The Project Coordinator of the World Bank, EU-sponsored State Employment and Expenditure for Results (SEEFOR) project, Mr. Benson Okojo, said the training was to build the workers’ capacity on adequate budget preparation.

    “We were able to identify 52 MDAs under our International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS) platform,” he said, adding that the exercise would enable them to understand the reforms that were being implemented under the SEEFOR project intervention.

    Okojo said one of such reforms was under the project’s Component B, which is budget reform. “A lot of changes are being introduced. We are changing from the old ways of preparing budget according to the heads, sub-heads of each sectoral budget to the new coding structure that has been informed by the adoption of IPSAS,” he said.

    According to him, the adoption was approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2010 and in 2011, there was a Federal Allocation Accounting Committee (FAAC) that now designed a new national chart among the three tiers of government.

    Ojoko said Delta State was among the first five states that had adopted the new national chart of accounting, adding that having adopted the chart, the state has been working by organising workshops and trainings for relevant stakeholders.

    “This includes budget officers, accountants as well as staff of the Ministry of Economic Planning for the implementation of the programme in the state. This has made it possible for the state to prepare the 2018 budget, which is already online and the World Bank had applauded the state for this effort,” the Project Coordinator said.

    He, however, stated that in spite of the progress recorded by the state in the area of budget preparation, there were still lapses that needed to be corrected.

  • Senate rejects Kaduna $350m World Bank loan request

    The Senate on Thursday declined the approval of $350 million World Bank loan requested by Kaduna State Government.

    The rejection of the loan request followed the presentation and consideration of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts which asked the upper legislative chamber to turn down the request.

    The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shehu Sani (Kaduan Central), who presented the report said “the Committee recommended that the Senate do reject the request of $350 million for Kaduna State as contained in the 2015 2018 External Borrowing (Rolling) Plan of Mr. President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”

    Apart from Sani who heavily criticized the loan request, two other senators from Kaduna State – Suleiman Hunkuyi (Kaduan North) and Danjuma La’ah (Kaduna South) – also opposed the loan.

    The Committee in its conclusion noted that “with the high total debt stock of Kaduna State at the moment, the new borrowing sought, will make the debt service to revenue ratio high, thereby worsening the state government’s ability to meet its other basic obligations to the people and further erode the economic viability of the state.”

    The Committee noted that based on the submissions and interactions with invited government officials, the following observations were made:

    • That the Development Policy Operation, DPO (Budget Support) of $350 million for Kaduna State was approved by World Bank in 2016 and captured in 2016 – 2018 borrowing plan as approved by the National Assembly.

     

    • That the credit facility has an attractive low financing data of 1.25 per cent interest; moratorium of five years and a 25 year maturity tenor.

     

    • That the facility is already captured in the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

     

    • That according to the latest Debt Management Office figures, Kaduna State has a total debt stock of $232.1 million.

     

    • That approving the current loan request of $350 million for Kaduna State will bring its total debt stock to $582.1 million.

     

    • That if this loan request is approved, the new total debt stock of $582.1 million for Kaduna State will be unsustainable and necessarily attract huge financial burden on the meager federal allocation to the state.

     

     

  • World Bank: Beware of fraudulent Cooperative schemes

    The World Bank has warned Nigerians of a fraudulent multi-purpose co-operative scheme currently being sold to members of the public in some local communities in the country.

    The bank said in a statement issued yesterday that “those behind the schemes have been promising unsuspecting members of the public huge ‘Bottom-up’ grants.

    According to the statement signed by Olufunke Olufon, spokesperson of the World Bank Group in Nigeria, “several correspondences targeting innocent citizens are being circulated falsely claiming that the World Bank is giving out money to individuals to do business and demanding processing fees of N1000 from prospective awardees. Please note that the World Bank is not behind this multi-purpose scheme and ‘bottom-up’ grant.”

    The World Bank she said, “does not request for personal financial information for applicants to its programmes.”

    The statement urged the public “to verify any information regarding World Bank-assisted programmes offered by the bank from its website: http://projects.worldbank.org/ ,

    Ms. Olufon warned that “the Bank would not be held responsible for any refunds of fees solicited by fraudsters purporting to act on its behalf.”The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital programs. It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank is a component of the World Bank Group.

  • Beware of fraudulent Cooperative schemes, World Bank warns Nigeria

    The World Bank has warned Nigerians of a fraudulent multi-purpose co-operative scheme currently being sold to members of the public in some local communities in the country.

    The Bank said in a statement issued yesterday that “those behind the schemes have been promising unsuspecting members of the public huge ‘Bottom-up’ grants.

    According to the statement signed by Olufunke Olufon, spokesperson of the World Bank Group in Nigeria, “several correspondences targeting innocent citizens are being circulated falsely claiming that the World Bank is giving out money to individuals to do business and demanding processing fees of N1000 from prospective awardees. Please note that the World Bank is not behind this multi-purpose scheme and ‘bottom-up’ grant.”

    The World Bank she said “does not request for personal financial information for applicants to its programmes.”

    The statement urged the public “to verify any information regarding World Bank-assisted programs offered by the Bank from its website: http://projects.worldbank.org/ ,

    Ms. Olufon warned that “the Bank would not be held responsible for any refunds of fees solicited by fraudsters purporting to act on its behalf.”

  • Bauchi: Gov Abubakar signs 2018 budget into law

    Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State on Wednesday signed into law, the 2018 appropriation bill of N167.89 billion.

    Abubakar said that 60 per cent of the budget was allocated to capital expenditure while 40 per cent was for recurrent expenditure.

    He said that the education sector was given the lion share of 19.22 per cent while 15.23 per cent was allocated to the health sector.

    The governor said that so far, he was not impressed with the performance of the health sector and promised to monitor activities of the sector to enable the government make a difference in the implementation of the 2018 budget.

    According to him, the completion of  ongoing projects and diversification of sources of Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR ) of the state will be given attention.

    He said that geologists from Czeck Republic would soon be in the state to commence mining and other activities in area of solid minerals.

    He said the state government would encourage mechanized farming as part of efforts to discourage subsistence farming

    “We want to turn agriculture into a venture to ensure food security for the state, as against the subsistence agriculture we are practicing,” the governor said.

    He said that the state government would also embark on construction of 1,000 kilometers of rural roads through the support of the World Bank, saying that the state had commenced the payment of its counterpart fund.”

    NAN

  • UN, World Bank launch joint report on conflict prevention

    The joint United Nations ( UN ) – World Bank report Pathways for Peace, launched on Wednesday, showed that violent conflicts around the world lead to heavy financial losses, and pointed out approaches to prevent them.

    Apart from causing immense human suffering, violent conflicts also lead to great financial losses, the report indicated.

    It also claims that engaging in conflict-prevention measures could mean saving between five and 70 billion dollars per year.

    “Pathways for Peace’’ is the first joint study from the UN and the World Bank focusing on conflict prevention.

    The report pointed out several causes of conflicts worldwide to include denying individuals the possibility to influence a society’s direction or their right to access natural resources, or to security and justice.

    “Development policies and programmes must be a core part of preventive efforts; when risks are high or building up, inclusive solutions through dialogue, adapted macroeconomic policies, institutional reform, and redistributive policies are required,’’ the report said.

    According to the report, inclusion is key, and preventive action needs to adopt a more people-centered approach that includes mainstreaming citizen engagement.

    Meanwhile, enhancing the participation of women and youth in decision making, as well as long-term policies to address the aspirations of women and young people are fundamental to sustaining peace.

    Xinhua/NAN