The World Bank on Tuesday began a review of its investments and activities worth $5.4bn in Nigeria. The investments are in 26 projects and involve 200 entities across the country.
Speaking at the beginning of the review in Minna, Niger State, the World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Ms. Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly, said the bank had shifted attention to the states instead of concentrating too much on the Federal Government.
Marie-Nelly said the review could lead to the termination of any project that the bank believed was not delivering on its objective.
She said, “The bank collaborates with the government to conduct annual country performance reviews to assess progress in project implementation and contributions to the delivery of desired development objectives.
“The bank is the largest Overseas Development Assistance provider and its support is important because of its associated technical opportunities and knowledge activities in the form of analytical and advisory activities.
“The bank’s areas of support have broadened and its engagement has shifted from Federal Government centric to a more balanced federal and state level support.
“The overall objective of the review is to conduct a joint World Bank and government review of the performance of the portfolio at state level with a view to identifying measures to address specific constraints.”
According to her, the review is expected to improve implementation and increase tangible results on the ground and better align the bank with the states’ priorities and implementation instruments.
“It is expected that using a state level lens for the review, will engender a more coordinated response and provide a cohesive framework to identify issues and address issues,” Marie-Nelly said,
Expectations of the review include greater involvement of state governments and their MDAs in the monitoring portfolio results; acceleration of disbursement in participating states by end of December 2013; better coordination at state level and improved alignment of the bank’s resources to states and different sectors.
In an interview with our correspondent, the World Bank director said the shift of attention to the states was necessary because more people were in the respective states.