World Bank approves $1.57bn for Nigeria to improve healthcare services, address flooding

***The World Bank says it has approved three new financing totalling $1.57 billion to support Nigeria.

**The Washington-based organisation announced in a statement on Monday.

The international lender said the approved funds will support the federal government in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents.

World Bank also said the approved projects would also help build resilience to the effects of climate change such as floods and drought through improving dam safety and irrigation.

“The World Bank has today approved three operations for a total of $1.57 billion to support the government of Nigeria in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents and building resilience to the effects of climate change such as floods and droughts through improving dam safety and irrigation,” World Bank said.

“The new financing includes $500 million for addressing governance issues that constrain the delivery of education and health (HOPE-GOV), $570 million for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Program (HOPE-PHC) and $500 million for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project (SPIN).

“The HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programs combined will support the government of Nigeria to improve service delivery in the basic education and primary healthcare sectors which are critical towards improving Nigeria’s human capital outcomes.

“The SPIN project will support improvement of dams’ safety and management of water resources for hydropower and irrigation in selected areas of Nigeria.”

According to the international lender, the HOPE-GOV programme will support Nigeria to address underlying governance weaknesses in the systems and procedures of government in two key human development sectors.

“It will particularly focus on critical cross-cutting challenges and enabling factors related to both financial and human resource management in basic education and primary healthcare sectors,” the World Bank said.

“The program will increase availability and effectiveness of financing for basic education and primary healthcare service delivery, enhance transparency and accountability of financing and improve recruitment, deployment and performance management of basic education teachers and primary healthcare workers by federal, state, and local governments.

“In support of the government’s newly launched reforms in the health sector, under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, the HOPE-PHC project will improve the quality and utilization of core reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition services to substantially reduce maternal and under five mortality and to improve the resilience of the health system— benefiting 40 million people, especially vulnerable populations.”

The World Bank also said the HOPE-PHC project is financed by a concessional $500 million International Development Association (IDA) credit and an additional $70 million in grant financing from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF).

“The GFF support includes $11 million from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and $12.5 million from the Children’s Investment Foundation Fund (CIFF) through joint financing with the GFF to help close the financing gap for primary and community healthcare and maternal newborn care at hospital-level, while also supporting government efforts to ensure sustainable financing for family planning commodities,” World Bank said.

“The SPIN Program will help Nigeria to protect citizens from floods and drought through enhanced dam safety and operations. The project will further support the provision of new and improved irrigation and drainage services over an area of 40,000 hectares.

“This will help up to 950,000 people that includes households, farmers, and livestock breeders to directly benefit from more reliable, climate-resilient, and efficient irrigation, water supply and increased agricultural productivity through improved irrigation water management.

“Through the SPIN project, the government will develop a master plan for hydropower and a structured public private partnership transaction for a hydropower project.”

FUND WILL ADDRESS DIFFICULTIES FACED BY WOMEN, GIRLS

Commenting on the development, Ndiamé Diop, World Bank country director for Nigeria, said the new financing for human capital and primary healthcare will help to address the complex difficulties faced by Nigerians, especially women and girls around access and quality of services.

“Effective investment in the health and education of Nigerians today is central to increasing their future employment opportunities, productivity, and earnings, while reducing poverty of the most vulnerable,” Diop said.

“The SPIN program is timely and will protect Nigerians from floods and droughts in the areas where it will be implemented, while enabling an increase in hydropower generation.”

He also said the World Bank is ready to work with the federal government and other stakeholders to deliver the programmes.

Diop added that the direct positive impact of the project on people and livelihoods is enormous.