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Tag: world bank

  • Fadama III: World Bank earmarks $50m in North-East

    Fadama III: World Bank earmarks $50m in North-East

    The World Bank says it has earmarked 50 million dollars to fast track the implementation of Fadama III, Lead Economist Tunji Oredipe has disclosed.

    Oredipe made this known during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the bank, Fadama III and Borno Government on Thursday in Maiduguri.

    Oredipe said that the funds were provided to support Fadama programmes, enhance food assistance, provide livelihoods and facilitate the rehabilitation of infrastructure in communities ravaged by the insurgents.

    He said that 27 local government areas selected from Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe were expected to participate in the programme.

    Oredipe added that Maiduguri and Jere Local Government areas were selected as pilot areas of the projects in Borno.

    He explained that about 192,000 people were expected to benefit from the programme in the participating states.

    “The aim is to increase crop production, provide skills training, income generating activities and build resilience.

    “The programme will also provide cash support to encourage food security and nutrition.”

    According to him, the bank is working in collaboration with World Food Programme (WFP) and International Community of Red Crescent to address food and humanitarian crisis in the region.

    Gov. Kashim Shettima commended the gesture, noting that it would go a long way to address the humanitarian crisis in the region.

    Shettima said that about 7,500 households would participate in the pilot project in Maiduguri and Jere Local Government areas.

    The governor, who noted that the programme would assist in reducing poverty, hunger and diseases, also commended the WFP, World Bank and other organisations for their humanitarian interventions in the state.

    NAN

  • World Bank: Nigeria’ll earn $22b from foreign remittances

    World Bank: Nigeria’ll earn $22b from foreign remittances

    Nigeria will record an inflow of $22 billion from foreign remittances this year, an increase from the $19 billion recorded last year, the World Bank has said.

    The Migration and Development Brief released by the global bank also stated that global remittance flow will recover this year after two consecutive years of decline.

    Foreign remittances are funds sent by people in a foreign country to their home  countries.

    The World Bank, in a statement on its website, said: “Officially recorded remittances to developing countries are expected to grow by 4.8 per cent to $450 billion for 2017. Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, are projected to grow by 3.9 per cent to $596 billion.

    “Among major remittance recipients, India retains its top spot, with remittances expected to total $65 billion this year, followed by China ($61 billion), the Philippines ($33 billion), Mexico (a record $31 billion), and Nigeria ($22 billion).

    “Buoyed by improved economic activity in high-income OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are projected to grow by a robust 10 per cent to $38 billion this year. The region’s major remittance receiving countries, Nigeria, Senegal and Ghana, are all set for growth.

    “The region is also host to a number of countries where remittances account for a significant share of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), including Liberia (26 per cent), Comoros (21 per cent), and the Gambia (20 per cent). Remittances will grow by a moderate 3.8 per cent to $39 billion in 2018.”

    According to the bank, the global average cost of sending money remained stagnant at 7.2 per cent of the amount in the third quarter of this year.

    It said: “This was significantly higher than the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of three per cent. Sub-Saharan Africa, with an average cost of 9.1 per cent, remains the highest-cost region.

    “Two major factors contributing to high costs are exclusive partnerships between national post office systems and any single money transfer operator (MTO), which stifles market competition and allows the MTO to raise remittance fees, as well as de-risking by commercial banks, as they close bank accounts of MTOs, in order to cope with the high regulatory burden aimed at reducing money laundering and financial crime.”

  • UN, World Bank to boost climate finance

    The United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres and World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim have unveiled plans to accelerate the flow of finance for climate action, through a new platform dedicated to identifying and facilitating transformational investments in developing countries.

    Following meetings with world and business leaders, state and city representatives, and civil society, the two leaders pointed to the urgency for climate action and the need for a massive ramp-up of investment.

    “Countries are successfully reducing emissions and building resilience to climate change, but getting to the level of action needed to reach the global goals set in Paris two years ago, which require a huge leap in the flow of financing and investment for implementing the National Determined Contributions,” said Secretary General Guterres.

    He added:“The disasters we are currently seeing – including storms, floods and drought – are also demonstrating just how urgent the need is, especially for the small islands nations.”

    President Kim, who spoke during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum, said: “There are vast opportunities in developing countries in areas like clean energy and climate-smart agriculture that will lay the groundwork for a more prosperous and sustainable future. Our challenge is to create the conditions for investment to flow, and get all forms of finance working together for maximum impact.”

    The new Invest4Climate platform is designed to bring together national governments, financial institutions, private sector investors, philanthropies, and multilateral banks to support transformational climate action in line with the Paris Agreement.

    The platform will bring together investors with high-impact opportunities in developing countries such as large-scale development of battery storage, electric cars, and low emission air conditioning.  It will also facilitate such investments through the development of risk mitigation instruments and, based on demand, will work with national governments to improve policy environments.

  • World Bank to support improved childhood development

    World Bank to support improved childhood development

    The World Bank has pledged its sustained support to the Nigerian Government to ensure quality health and development of children.

    Mr Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director, Nigeria, made the promise at the on-going National Early Childhood Development conference on Wednesday in Abuja with the theme “Investing early in every Nigerian child”.

    Benmessaoud who noted that investing in policies and programme of childhood development as critical toward the actualisation of SDGs however said that it required collective or concerted efforts of all and sundry.

    “The World Bank is committed to supporting the effort of the government of Nigeria in ensuring that every Nigerian child reaches his or her potential.

    “This potential can be achieved by addressing the problem of inequality at birth and responding to the welfare rights of every child to access adequate nutrition, live in safe and secure environments and access to stimulation and learning opportunities.

    “Investing in children is morally right and economically safe, so we need to ensure that every child is loved, care for in terms of adequate nutrition and education.

    “The issue of early childhood development is central to national development and it is the basis for future learning and enhance the child’s ability to be patience and leads to large term gain,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the conference was aimed at creating awareness on the meaning and importance of the early years of a child from conception to five years in early childhood nutrition, education and development.

    Similarly, Mrs Barbara Ayisi, Deputy Minister Basic Education, Ghana described early childhood development as the foundation of other levels of development.

    Ayisi emphasised that investing in them early would enhance school readiness, among others.

    “Life is not about us but about our children so if we start raw we get raw and if we start right we get it right in every facet of the society.

    “Ghana has free education for its high school children Nigeria should emulate this as it will in a long way boost the nation’s development ,” she said.

  • World Bank, UNDP seek NiMet’s support on climate services

    World Bank, UNDP seek NiMet’s support on climate services

    The World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme ( UNDP ) have solicited the support of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency ( NiMet ) in their climate and weather services initiatives in some developing countries.

    A statement by Mrs Theresa Ushie, Assistant General Manager, Public Relations, NiMet, on Tuesday in Abuja said the beneficiary nations in Africa were Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia, and Singapore in Asia.

    Prof. Sani Mashi, Director-General of NiMet said the synergy was in recognition of the agency’s track record in providing quality meteorological services and attainment of ISO 9001:2015 certification of its aeronautical services.

    Mashi disclosed this on Tuesday when he received a delegation from the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS ) in Abuja.

    He said that NiMet was mandated to promote the application of meteorological information to address development in accordance with the provisions of the Global Framework for Application of Climate Services (GFCS).

    NiMet boss disclosed that Nigeria had produced a National Framework for the Application of Climate Services ( NFACS ), which according to him, is awaiting presidential approval.

    “NiMet is providing support services to Liberia and Sierra Leone through daily weather forecast services; provides technical support to the ECOWAS Commission; and training of meteorologists in Benin Republic and the Gambia, among others.

    “NiMet is the first, and the only meteorological agency in Africa to receive the International Standards Organisation, ISO 9001:2015 certification for the provision of meteorological services for the aeronautical sector.

    Mashi, however, pledged NiMet’s continuous support for ECOWAS meteorological programmes.

    Earlier, Dr Johnson Boanuh, Director of Environment, ECOWAS Commission, who led the delegation, said they were in NiMet to acquaint themselves and their programmes with the new management.

    Boanuh, while commending NiMet, expressed appreciation for the agency’s support for the ECOWAS commission and the Regional Office for World Meteorological Organisation ( WMO ) in Nigeria.

    He disclosed that the WMO and GFCS Secretariat in Geneva had established an office in Dakar, Senegal to support and facilitate the establishment of NFACS in all ECOWAS member states.

    According to him, part of the programme drawn to facilitate the establishment of the NFACS is geared towards strengthening the capacities of the various National Hydro-Meteorological Services to meet their obligations.

    Boanuh said the body had commenced the needs assessment programme for ECOWAS member states, which according to him, will be executed in phases.

  • World Bank to support mining sector

    World Bank to support mining sector

    The World Bank has said it would continue to partner  the Federal Government on the mining sector development, adding it is also working with some of the states that have higher potential in the country.

    Senior Mining Specialist, Energy and Extractive Industries (GEEDR), World Bank, Francisco Igualada, who gave the assurance, said establishing a strong foundation for mining sector development would enhance competitiveness and foster domestic investment in Nigeria.

    In a statement at the weekend, he said the World Bank would follow a value chain that would bring together countries from non-renewable resources to a stage in which sustainable development would take place adding that each country has its own peculiarity and characteristics.

    He said: “I am particularly excited about two projects; our critical involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in support of the rationalisation of the sector through nearly five years as well as responsibility in managing our recently approved $150 million loan project (MinDiver) for developing the Nigerian mineral sector and diversifying it from its dependency on other sectors including oil and gas.

    “I am really looking forward to contributing to transforming their potential resources into some tangible exploration and exploitation mineral projects bringing economic prosperity and jobs. Nigeria is the first African economy and really needs the employment that mining and all types of value-chain including local content can bring.”

    Igualada said the message at Nigeria Mining Week next month is straightforward: “We need to get it right’ once for and all and this means that a strong sector foundation is a must, afterwards facilitating downstream sector developments and the enhancement of competitiveness need to happen as a logical result. This cannot and should not be improvised and built  piece-meal.

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  • Nigeria demands reform of IMF, World Bank

    Nigeria demands reform of IMF, World Bank

    Nigeria has demanded the reform of the Bretton Wood Institutions to make them responsive to the needs of developing countries and also reflect the realities of the 21st century.

    The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, stated this at the 41st Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 plus China (G77+China) on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

    The G77 is a coalition of developing nations at the UN that promotes its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the UN.

    The Bretton Woods Institutions are the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), established at a meeting of 43 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States in 1944.

    Onyeama commended the G77 for its role at shaping global discourse on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through a collective and robust engagement.

    World Bank and IMF are seen as wielding tremendous power and influence, but exclude the voices of developing countries most adversely affected by financial and trade policies.

    Onyeama said: “Equally important in the international development strategy is the need for a reform of the governance structure of the Bretton Wood Institutions.

    “Not only should they be made more transparent, consultative and inclusive but also they should be more responsive and appreciative of the peculiar needs of developing countries.

    “In consonance with the principle of ownership, the greater infusion of developing countries in the governance structure of Bretton Wood Institutions would undoubtedly allow them to take advantage of the local knowledge that developing countries can bring to the work of the institutions.”

     

  • ‘AfDB grants $800m for agric. transformation’

    ‘AfDB grants $800m for agric. transformation’

    Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the President of African Development Bank ( AfDB ), says the bank and World Bank have set aside 800 million dollars for the provision of agriculture technologies to farmers in Africa.

    He made this known at the ongoing 2017 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) on Wednesday in Abidjan, made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

    According to him, the financial support will come under a flagship programme for scaling up of agriculture known as “Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation”.

    The AfDB boss noted that the technologies to feed Africa exist already, but need to be scaled up for widespread adoption because it required specific incentives.

    He added that “agriculture is instrumental in Africa’s poverty and it must be instrumental in its wealth but only through agricultural regeneration.

    “No region of the world has ever industrialised without the agriculture sector being first transformed,’’ he said.

    Adesina said the future of Africa depended on agriculture and required 40 billion dollars yearly over the next 10 years.

    He, however, added that “it is a lot of money, but it is available, even within Africa, if the projects are good enough.

    “We must bring an end to the costly and damaging anomaly of the net deficit in food. No more should Africa produce what it does not or cannot consume, and no more should it consume what it does not but could easily produce.”

    He disclosed that AfDB was promoting national risk sharing facilities in every country to leverage agricultural finance, similar to the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL).

    NIRSA is a facility designed to reduce the risk of lending to Nigerian agriculture value chains.

    “The impact in Nigeria was massive because 15 million farmers were reached in four years, 2.5 million of them women, while food production expanded by over 21 million tonnes.

    “Today, several African countries are adopting the approach, as well as others such as Afghanistan.”

    Adesina predicted that the next few years would see agriculture emerge fully from poverty and subsistence to become the next big booming business sector of Africa.

    He said “Africans need to become producers and creators, and not just consumers, in the fast-moving enterprising business of food.

    “I am confident that we will soon see Africa’s first tranche of billionaires coming from the farming and food sectors.”

  • Nasarawa youths engaged to check deforestation

    Nasarawa youths engaged to check deforestation

    Nasarawa State Government has engaged more than 1,500 youths to guard against illegal felling of trees and other activities that can deplete the state’s forest resources, Mr Gabriel Aka’aka, the Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, announced.

    The commissioner made the announcement at a news conference in Lafia on Wednesday.

    Aka’aka said the move was part of the state government’s effort toward implementing World Bank-assisted programme on Reducing Emission Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in the state.

    He explained that REDD+ programme was aimed at reducing greenhouse emission and mitigating the effects of climate change.

    According to him, the project will check depletion of forest resources through afforestation and sustain
    existing forest reserves.

    He said it would go a long way to prevent flooding and control soil erosion.

    The commissioner noted that the state government had paid its counterpart fund for the programme, designed to run for eight years.

    He added that government had also provided a befitting office complex, as well as inaugurated a steering committee to facilitate smooth take-off of the programme.

    According to him, a technical committee and state project management unit for the programme will soon be inaugurated for successful implementation of the project.

    “We have commenced stakeholders engagement and community sensitisation around forest reserves designated for the programme in the state,’’ Aka’ka said.

    He said three forests have been designated for the pilot scheme of the programme in Wamba, Nasarawa-Toto and Obi Local Government Area of the state.

    “We have been educating community stakeholders about the importance of the programme and the need for them to support efforts at revamping the forest by not farming and grazing in designated locations.

    “These community engagements have so far yielded positive results.”