World Bank
Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

The World Bank has unfolded a package which would see it spend up to $2.1 billion in rebuilding the badly devastated North-eastern part of Nigeria, ravaged for the past six years by the Boko Haram insurgency.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday
in Washington D.C. met with representatives of the World Bank, the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Buhari said apart from rebuilding the region in terms of
infrastructure, priority must also be given to the resettlement of
internally displaced persons (IDPs), who are now over one million.
He urged the World Bank to send a team, which would work in concert
with a team from the federal government, so that a proper assessment of
needs could be done.
The World Bank will spend the $2.1 billion through its International
Development Agency (IDA), which gives low interest rates loans to
government. The first 10 years will be interest free, while an
additional 30 years will be at lower than capital market rate.
The World Bank is reportedly eager to move in quickly, give out the
loans and give succour to the people of North-east, who are at the mercy
of an insurgency that has claimed over 20,000 lives.
WHO is also to invest $300 million on immunization against malaria in
Nigeria, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will collaborate
with Dangote Foundation to ensure that the country maintains its zero
polio case record of the past one year.
“If the effort is sustained for another two years, Nigeria will be declared fully free of polio,” the statement said.
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