International lender, the World Bank, is expected to meet
and approve a $500 million loan to Nigeria on Friday to boost rural access and
agricultural marketing in the country.
This is according to information obtained from the
Washington-based institution on Thursday.
The World Bank is expected to take a decision on the loan
request by the Nigerian government on Friday, 13, 2024.
The loan under the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing
Project – Scale Up is designed to close the gap between communities and the
broader marketplace in Nigeria.
A major prerequisite to partake in the project is that
subnationals have a fully functional Roads Fund and Roads Agency with appointed
boards and staff and provisions for administrative costs in the state budget.
The document noted, “While the eligibility for state
participation under RAAMP required the drafting and placement of Road Fund and
Roads Agency bills in the State house of assemblies, the new project would
require the states to have a fully functional Roads Fund and Roads Agency with
appointed boards and staff, and provision for administrative costs made in the
state budget. In addition, RARAs offer an opportunity to foster women’s
representation in the transport sector”.
If the loan is approved by the World Bank, this will be the
10th loan project from the institution under the administration of President
Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Federal Government, under the leadership of President
Bola Tinubu, has secured loans worth $6.45 billion from the World Bank in 16
months so far.
The implication is that the loan amount would increase
following the recent approval of three new loans totalling $1.57 billion from
the World Bank for various projects in Nigeria.
Available data showed that in the last five years, Nigeria
has received at least 35 loan approvals from the World Bank, totalling $24.088
billion.
They are loans for power: $750 million; women empowerment:
$500 million; girl’s education, $700m, renewable energy; $750m, economic
stabilisation reforms; $1.5bn, and resource mobilisation reforms; $750m.
This comes as Nigeria’s debt rose to N134.3 trillion at the
end of June. The country’s loan is expected to surge to N134.3 trillion by the
time all the borrowing in 2024 has been factored.
Recall that former Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo,
had decried the country’s rising debt profile, noting that it poses a huge
problem to current and future generations.
Similarly, economists like Muda Yusuf, the Chief Executive
Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, had also raised
an alarm over Nigeria’s burgeoning debt profile amid infrastructural deficit.
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