The President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, said on Thursday
that the
bank had concentrated on the northern region of Nigeria because
President Muhammadu Buhari “specifically” requested that it did so.
Kim
and the Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine
Lagarde, who spoke at separate press conferences in Washington DC,
United States, also advised Buhari to invest in initiatives that would
enhance economic growth.
Kim said, “You know, in my very first
meeting with President Buhari he said specifically that he would like us
to shift our focus to the northern region of Nigeria and we’ve done
that. Now, it has been very difficult. The work there has been very
difficult.
“I
think Nigeria, of course, has suffered from the dropping oil prices. I
think things are just now getting better. But the conversation we need
to have with Nigeria, I think, is in many ways related to the theme that
I brought to the table just this past week, which is investment in
human capital. The percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that Nigeria
spends on healthcare is less than one percent.”
He added,
“Despite that, there is so much turbulence in the northern part of the
country, and there is the hit that was taken from the drop in the oil
prices. Nigeria has to think ahead and invest in its people. Investing
in the things that will allow Nigeria to be a thriving, rapidly growing
economy in the future is what the country has to focus on right now.”
Kim
also said, “Focusing on the northern part of Nigeria, we hope that as
commodity prices stabilise and oil prices come back up, the economy will
grow a bit more. But very, very much important is the need to focus on
what the drivers of growth in the future will be.”
On the bank’s
broader plan for Africa, he said they would invest in human capital in
other parts of Africa to prepare the continent for the next phase of
growth.
In her remarks, Lagarde said Sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria’s, had posted sub-optimal growth in recent times.
The
growth figures, she said, were far too minimal considering the huge
demographic potential of Nigeria and other countries in the region.
As
a result, she said the IMF would be engaging ministers of finance and
central bank governors from the region attending the annual World Bank
and IMF meetings on how they could best boost and stabilise economic
growth.
Lagarde said, “The Sub-Saharan Africa is one region of the
world where growth is suboptimal. Those countries grow at an average
growth of 2.5 per cent. That is too low for the demographic expansion of
the region”.
The revelation by the World Bank chief will only
further solidify the belief by many that President Buhari overwhelmingly
favours the North in his government.
He will be severely
criticized for this move that will be read as maybe one of the surest
and most direct proof yet of his plan to prioritize and accelerate
development in the northern region of the country.
Many will be
quick to recall the president’s comments in the United States last year
when he drew a distinction between the regions of Nigeria on account of
percentages of votes given him the presidential election, stating that
those who gave him only 5% could not expect same treatment as those who
gave him 97% of his vote tally, to widespread impassioned reactions.
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