The Federal Government of Nigeria has concluded plans to launch $750 million World Bank-Backed Programme in January 2023.
This was disclosed by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, on Tuesday, after a statement on the kind of business environment Nigeria required for significant economic growth in the country by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
According to Osinbajo, business growth can only be achieved through hard-work at the sub-national level.
Osinbajo made the statement during a meeting of the PEBEC where he got briefing on the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms Program organized by the secretariat and the World Bank.
In a statement, Osinbajo said:
“For all who are charged with responsibilities at the State level, you have your work cut out for you.
“If we are going to have the kind of business environment that our country deserves and that can make a difference for our economy, it is the hard work at the sub-national level that would really move the needle.
The states’ process is a very important one and I hope that we will be able to spend individually, especially in the states, a fair amount of time trying to work out how this will work in actual practice in our various States.”
The Vice President noted that at the federal level, it had been a major challenge trying to coordinate agencies and parastatals.
Meanwhile, the Special Adviser on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary of PEBEC, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, in her remarks, said:
“we have been collaborating for over two years in conceptualizing the SABER Program. It is the first programme of this size that the World Bank is embarking on at this scale globally.”
She noted that SABER, a three-year programme running from January 2023 – December 2025, was a performance-based intervention jointly designed by the World Bank and the PEBEC Secretariat with support from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum Secretariat.
The $750million operation comprises two main areas: a $730m Program-for-Results Financing component and a $20m technical assistance for investment project financing.
Source: Nyscinfo.com