Nigeria gets a $25m boost

from The Independent On Line

Abuja - The World Bank has approved a 25-million-dollar International Development Association credit to provide additional funding for community-based poverty reduction projects in Nigeria, its spokesperson in Nigeria, Obadiah Tohomdet, said in Abuja on Friday.

Nigeria received the first credit of 60-million dollars in 2000.

"The fresh credit is for two years and will close on August 31, 2008," Tohomdet said.

The projects aimed to improve access for the poor to social and economic services and increase the availability and management of development resources at the community level, he said.

The additional financing would ensure that about 600 community-based poverty reduction micro-projects that were currently underway were completed, he added.

"The funding will also help maintain the momentum of the community-driven development approach in the country until a nationwide community development project currently under preparation by the Nigerian government begins," Tohomdet said.

He said the projects would be implemented in Abia and Ebonyi states in the south-east, in Cross River state in the south, Ekiti state in the south-west, in Kogi and Kwara states in central Nigeria and in Yobe state in the north-east.

"The additional funding will continue to support government efforts to empower communities to become agents and beneficiaries of change to improve the lives of their citizens," he quoted Foluso Okunmadewa, the World Bank Task Team Leader of the project, as saying.

"The additional financing will address unmet demands and requests from community groups for micro-projects in virtually all the states currently implementing such projects," Tohomdet said.