Don’t take World Bank loan, Falana tells FG

A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has warned the Federal Government against obtaining loan from the World Bank to finance the 2016 budget.

Femi Falana

The Federal Government had disclosed plan to borrow $2.5bn from the World Bank and another $1bn from the African Development Bank.

But Falana, who wrote to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Friday, argued that there was no need to obtain $3.5bn loan to finance the budget when the Federal Government could recover about $66.5bn it was being owed.

The lawyer urged the Federal Government to drop its proposition to obtain World Bank loan, noting that it required the endorsement of the International Monetary Fund, which he said, usually imposed stringent conditions on borrowing countries.

He lamented that the debt profile of the country had now grown to $64bn after it took much effort in 2005 for the country to exit the London/Paris Club after struggling to repay a loan of $12.4bn.

Falana urged the Federal Government to make effort to recover the over $66.5bn accruable to it, rather than obtain loan to finance the budget.

According to him, part of the said $66.5bn was the sum of $20.2bn in form of underpayment/underassessment of taxes, royalties, levies and rents, which a former Executive Secretary of the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, called on the Federal Government to recover.

Falana also recalled that there was about $11bn which the Central Bank of Nigeria injected into the banking industry between 2006 and 2008 as bailout to commercial banks, which had yet to be recovered.

Besides these, Falana also recalled that the Federal Government had on September 6, 2015 announced that the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was in the process of recovering the sum of $9.6bn in “over deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and the legacy OPA/SWAP oil contracts.”

He also made reference to the $750m of the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s loot, which the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), said arrangements had been concluded on it to recover.

Finally, he also recalled that the a recent probe by the Senate revealed that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria had accumulated about $25bn which, according to AMCON’s Managing Director, Ahmed Kuru, was owed by “big men who fly in private jets, live in big mansions and they have taken money and they are not paying back.”

Falana said, “From the foregoing, you will agree with us that the hapless Nigerian people should not be made to pay for the gross mismanagement of the national economy by the Federal Government and the profligacy of the pampered members of the ruling class.

“Instead of taking a loan of $2.5bn with dangerous conditionalities from the World Bank, the Federal Government should recover the aforesaid loans and revenues of not less than $66.5bn with the assistance of the anti-graft agencies.

“While acknowledging the concerted efforts to recover the looted wealth of the nation through the anti-graft agencies and the Arms Procurement Panel, the Buhari Administration should embark on the immediate recovery of the aforesaid loans and accrued revenues with a view to financing the 2016 budget and the infrastructural development of the nation.”

Don’t take World Bank loan, Falana tells FG

2016 Economic Growth: FG, World Bank disagree over budget target

LAGOS — Contrary to the projections of the World Bank that pegged the Gross Domestic Product growth rate at 3.7 per cent, the Federal Government economic agenda as contained in the 2016 budget breakdown insisted on GDP growth rate of 4.37 per cent thus making it ambitious.

Earlier this year IMF cut its growth forecasts for the global economy on the back of a slowdown in China, looming recession in Russia and continuing weakness in the eurozone.

Source: U.S Department of Agriculture

The Washington-based fund, while warning of a significant declines in growth rates across global economies especially among emerging markets including Nigeria’s against the backdrop of crash in oil prices, cut its 2016 forecasts from 4.0 per cent to 3.7 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government’s 2016 budget envisioned an expansionary fiscal measures expected to galvanize the economy to a growth momentum for the forecast GDP rate significantly above 4.0 per cent.

GDP is derived from the value of all goods and services available for final uses and export.

The expenditure approach measures the final uses of, or expenditure on the produced output, as the sum of final consumption expenditure; gross capital formation (investment activities carried out in the economy), and exports less imports.

Though the 2016 target is lower than 5.5 per cent revised projection in 2015 budget it is clearly ambitious in the light of revised figures given by multilateral institutions and several multinational and local financial institutions as well as real outcome recorded so far in 2015 fiscal year.

Budget Breakdown

The growth rate projection, according to the breakdown, would be achieved through alignment of fiscal, monetary, trade and industrial policies.

Also the government intends to enhance the realization of this target by ensuring job creation on every aspect of the execution of the 2016 budget.

Its inclusive growth strategy would entail a reduction in tax rates for smaller businesses as well as subsidized funding for priority sectors such as agriculture and solid minerals.

However a breakdown of the 2016 spending plan showed that non-debt recurrent expenditure was cut by 9.1 per cent to N2.59 trillion indicating that the expenditure approach to GDP will point downwards.

To offset this scenario capital expenditure was increased by 223 per cent to N1.8 trillion which is 30 per cent of total budget.

Works, Power and Housing got the biggest capital votes of N433.4 billion, followed by transport (N202 billion), Special Intervention Programs (N200 billion), Defence (N134.6 billlion).

Economy analysts believe these allocations would add to GDP rate more significantly.

Also budget deficit of N2.2 trillion which translates to 2.16 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP and an overall debt to GDP of 14 per cent, is expected to further stimulate growth.

The economy has witnessed one of its worst declines in the out going year with GDP initially projected at 6.4 per cent revised by the Federal Government to 5.5 per cent and subsequently revised further down by various multinational organisations including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Renaissance Capital, one of the world’s leading private sector financial institutions as well as Bloomberg, world’s leading financial media giant and African Development Bank, AfDB, Africa’s multilateral financial institution.

Nigerian-based financial institutions such as FSDH Economic Research, an arm of the FSDH Merchant Bank, Afrinvest Group, a Lagos based investment house, among many others have also analysed the economic trend.

Cumulatively, all these organisations brought down the forecast GDP growth rate for 2015 to between 2.5 and 2.8 per cent by year end 2015.

Real GDP growth rate has been largely in the negative this year declining to 3.38 per cent in the first quarter and further down to 2.57 per cent in the second quarter but it made slight improvement in the third quarter to 2.84 per cent, thereby giving an overall picture close to the forecasts by international and local financial institutions.

In the medium to longer term, the Buhari administration intends to pursue economic diversification through import substitution and export promotion.

The policy thrust of the budget included stimulating the economy and making it more competitive by focusing on infrastructural development; delivering inclusive growth; and prioritizing the welfare of Nigerians.

2016 Economic Growth: FG, World Bank disagree over budget target

World Bank advises Buhari to remove oil subsidy

ABUJA—Against the backdrop of the current fuel crisis across the country showing no sign of abating, the World Bank, yesterday, told President Muhammadu Buhari that the time to remove petroleum subsidy is now.

OIL

While the Buhari administration has given hints of its intention to remove fuel subsidy, many Nigerians, including the organised labour, have rejected the plan. But in what appears to be a prelude to the eventual removal of fuel subsidy, President Buhari made no provision for kerosene subsidy in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP, which he presented to the National Assembly, yesterday.

At Monday’s Federal Executive Council meeting, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udoma, while unveiling the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the government’s N6 trillion budget proposal for 2016, said the government was seriously weighing the options between removing or retaining fuel subsidy next year.

Speaking at the launch of the new edition of Nigeria Economic Report, the World Bank’s Lead Economist, John Litwack, said the best time to remove fuel subsidy is now when global crude oil price is at its lowest level, noting that the Bank foresaw continuous decline in global crude oil price.

Despite last Friday’s attempt by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, during its 168th conference to maintain its production quota so as to stabilize the crude oil market, the price of the commodity slumped further to $37.89 per barrel on Monday from $38.09 on Friday.

Mr Litwack said now is the best time for the government to scrap the subsidy, as doing so would not push retail pump price beyond an average of N100 per litre, or generate the kind of pressure that would negatively impact on the people beyond what they are currently facing.

According to Litwack: “The fuel subsidy appears to have vast modest benefits for the majority of citizens, but the costs are quite high. There is a strong tendency for the cost of fuel subsidy to increase over time as increasing domestic demand for petrol outpaces growth in oil output or revenues.

“The $35 billion cost of fuel subsidy during 2010 – 2014 was one of the reasons Nigeria was unable to accumulate a fiscal reserve in the Excess Crude Account that could have protected the country from the recent oil price shock.”

He explained that fuel subsidy obligations were expected to reach 18 per cent of all government oil revenues in 2015, pointing out that if the current regulated price regime of N87 per litre was maintained, subsidy was projected to increase to more than 30 per cent by 2018.

2016 Budget: Buhari scraps kerosene subsidy

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari may have tacitly scrapped kerosene subsidy in the country as he made no allocation for it in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, and Fiscal Strategy Paper, FSP, which he presented to the National Assembly, yesterday.

The document indicated that the present federal administration is to borrow N1.835.88 trillion to fund the 2016 budget which stands at N6.04 trillion just as it disclosed that a total sum of N350.33 billion  misappropriated funds will be recovered in 2016 .

A breakdown showed that while N1, 200.00 trillion would be borrowed domestically, foreign borrowing stands at N635.88 bn.

On the misappropriated funds, the president explained in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework that N137.90 billion will be recovered from strategic alliance contracts, while N162.43 billion will be recovered from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC just as N50 billion will be recovered from other misappropriated funds.

But contrary to expectations that he would remove fuel subsidy following series of complaints arising from its handling, the President did not only retain it but allocates the sum of N63.29 bn for it in the 2016 fiscal year.

Also, in his efforts at fulfilling his 2014 electioneering campaign promises, President Buhari allocated the total sum of N500 billion  for Social Welfare Intervention Programmes Initiative, conditional cash transfer to the most vulnerable and post-NYSC grant.

He explained that “these interventions will start as a pilot scheme and work towards securing the support of donor agencies and our development partners in order to to minimize potential risks.”

N39.88 billion for oil exploration in the North

The president, according the document, is expected to spend the sum of N39.88 billion for exploration of oil in the northern part of the country in the, 2016 fiscal year.

According to the MTEF submitted, the sum of N150 billion was earmarked for settlement of arears of the 2015 subsidy on domestic consumption.

This came as he slashed the yearly budget of the National Assembly from the sum of N120 billion contained in the 2015 budget to N115 billion in the 2016 fiscal year.

He equally trimmed down the allocation for Presidential Amnesty Programme from N47.39 billion to N20 billion.

To improve revenue generation and collection as well as plugging leakages, the president said his administration had commenced a forensic audit of key revenue generating and collecting agencies of government with a view to recovering lost revenues as well as identifying and blocking loopholes for poor collection and remittance of revenue in the treasury.

The president added that the multiplicity of government accounts had made it difficult to have an accurate picture of public financial resources.

“Government has, therefore, enforced the full implementation of the Treasury Single Account, TSA system. Already, this is facilitating a more effective aggregate management and control of government cash balances, which, hitherto, had been maintained in several bank accounts.

“Government has similarly, enforced the full implementation of the integrated payroll and personal information system, IPPIS in all MDAs, which should result in some cash, “he explained.

President Buhari hinted of possible job cut as well as mass reduction of MDAs, when he said: “Government will, in the near-to-medium – term, continue to prune the size of federal government and its MDAs to more efficient levels without compromising effectiveness.

“Over the Medium-term, however, government will revisit the need to rationalize the agencies of government and strategically implement relevant provisions.”

The president said the 2016 Budget, standing at N6.04 trillion, proposed government revenue of N3.82 trillion, implied a projected deficit of N2.22 trillion.

No hope in sight, as fuel scarcity bites harder

The fuel crisis continued in Abuja, yesterday, as motorists continued to find it more difficult to get the product, with some queueing for a minimum of four hours before getting the product to purchase.

The fuel crisis showed no sign of abating, as the queues continued to grow longer while the number of petrol stations with the product continued to decline.

Despite the sufferings, the Federal Government, the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR and the NNPC, seem to have abandoned Nigerians to their fate, as they have kept mute in spite of the worsening situation.

The DPR failed to respond to enquiries on its efforts at alleviating the sufferings faced by Nigerians, while the NNPC had stopped sending its daily update of supply to petrol stations across the country.

In Suleja, most petrol stations were selling fuel to motorists, but the queues were long while motorists accused the filling stations of under-dispensing, claiming that their pumps had been tampered with.

At the Airport Road in Abuja, most of the petrol stations were not opened when Vanguard visited, while the few selling, NNPC and MRS, witnessed large number of vehicles and very long queues.

In Lugbe, only MRS petrol station was selling, while the other petrol stations where shut down, claiming they have ran out of the products to sell.

At the Conoil and Total petrol stations opposite the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, headquarter in Abuja, the queues had gone round about four streets, inhibiting traffic in the process.

At the Forte filling station in Gudu, a long queue was seen, with motorists spending long hours on the queue, while the situation was no different at Yaman petrol stations in Area 3, Garki, Abuja.

In Gwarimpa, most of the petrol stations were shut, including the NNPC station inside Gwarinpa , as the station was shut to motorists.

Along the Abuja – Keffi Expressway, only Forte Oil at Nyanya was selling, while all the NNPC retail outlets around Nyanya were shut down.

Along the Kubwa expressway, the large queues witnessed at the NNPC retail outlets at Katampe and Total filling stations continued and showed no sign of improvement. Some motorists told Vanguard that they have been on the queue for about four hours and called on the Federal Government to do something about the situation.

Due to the worsening scarcity, widespread incidences of sharp practices were recorded in most petrol stations, with rising cases of under-dispensing, hoarding and exploitation.

Also, most petrol stations no longer sell to motorists during the day, as they only sell at night when they feel they could get away with whatever sharp practices they are engaged in. Most of them sell to black market dealers in drum and other large containers at the dead of the night, while during the day, they claim they do not have products to sell.

World Bank advises Buhari to remove oil subsidy

Edo is Nigeria’s best – World Bank

The World Bank on Wednesday described Edo State as the best in the country in terms of transparency, openness, candour and value for money.

Governor Oshiomhole

The World Bank commended Governor Adams Oshiomhole for paying over N1billion counterpart fund, which it said qualified the state to enjoy its projects and other incentives.

Task Team Leader of the World Bank, Dr. Amos Abu, stated this when he led other members of his team to pay a courtesy visit on Governor Oshiomhole.

Dr. Abu, who said they were in the state to inspect ongoing erosion control projects in Auchi, Queen Ede and Ekenwa, described work progress on the site as outstanding.

He disclosed that the bank has not receive any single complain of political interference from the state, saying that was very unique.

The action, according to him, meant contractors and consultants were looking at the body language of the governor.

“Our core engineers are already in Auchi to look at the work that is going on and to also provide guidance on how it can be quickly completed. We are also very happy with the new site that has been put forward for the bank funding. A close look at this site shows that they met the site selection criteria so we are very happy to consider and take them on board.

“Particularly worth mentioning is the level of commitment by the state. This is demonstrated by the over N1 billion counterparts which you have paid and no other state has been able to match this.”

“Since the governor is not intervening, is not interested in intervening, this ensures that the most responsive bidder wins at all time and at all cost. No other person dare try to interfere and this is really a source of comfort to us.”

“It is not every state in the country that the world bank is present and for the bank to be willing as to work with Edo State, it means the very high standard of transparency, openness, candour and value for money is been upheld by the state,” he stated.

Edo is Nigeria’s best – World Bank

My Take-away from the IMF-World Bank Conference - Okonjo-Iweala

Former Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was a toast of participants in Lima, during the IMF-World Bank meetings. Although he declined to speak with the media because, according to her, it is not yet ripe to comment on Nigerian issues. However, after much pressure, she agreed to speak with Festus Akanbi only on issues pertaining to the African continent

What are the lessons learnt from the 2015 IMF/World Bank meeting?

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala

One is that the global economy is full of uncertainty and it’s not performing well apart from the US where the economy is looking a bit brighter even though it is fragile. In Europe, there are issues. The big topic here is the performance of emerging market countries which had been the bright star for global growth. They did more than 50 per cent of GDP growth in the last few years and now they are experiencing problems. African countries that were also performing relatively well will now have a growth rate which is less than four per cent this year and perhaps up to five per cent next year.  So what can African countries learn? I think there are one or two key lessons.

The first thing I want to say is that we have to give African countries credit for having mastered the lessons of 80s and 90s and the lesson there was that you need macro-economic stability before you can grow or develop or even solve your social problems. It means you need fiscal deficits that are low and reasonable, preferably below three per cent.  You need a low inflation, single digit as low as possible, you need a stable and reasonable exchange rate, and all of those things were areas where we did not do well in the past, now African countries are doing very well. So, they have managed to maintain macroeconomic stability. That was the lesson learnt in 80s and 90s which was applied in the 2000 and resulted in African countries growing very steadily. The lesson to be learnt for the next two decades in my view is the lesson of structural reforms and the transformation of the Africa economy. This is because we almost have the same problems in Africa. Only few of our economies are truly diversified. So whether you are an oil exporter, diamond exporter or a coal producer, we all have to work really hard to diversify resources of growth in our economies and very importantly, the sources of revenue and it means we need to work very hard to try to improve our tax base. All of these work we started in Nigeria. They just need to continue.

What is your view on the recommendations of Central Bank Governors of Africa to the IMF?

First is African countries said they need specific attention. Of course you cannot just take policies that apply generally and apply it but I think institutions now realize that. Each country is different even when we have common and similarities between each country for us to get a solution. Above all, you have to listen to the countries and ask, what are their aspirations, what are their own visions, where did they really want to go and you have to support them. They were saying they do not want to see same set of recommendations. To some extent, we have similar characteristics. Most of us have a very narrow base in terms of our revenues so we have to find ways around it but the way to diversify ranges from countries to countries. They have to ask, what are the sources of growth to this country different from exporting one mineral to the other? We have to go with it or you take the mineral and say how we can transform it into making the kind of investments attracting those to do that. I agree with that.

The second issue was better representation on the board of the IMF. I completely agree with that. The governance of international institutions have to change, has to include emerging markets and African continent. You need to give them a voice and their reforms that have been put before the IMF to give emerging markets more of the voice but due to blockages in the US congress, it has not been enacted. But African countries have not been given that voice, so IMF quota reform still needs to go further in the next round to make sure African countries have a strong voice. I totally agree with that. They also need to give African countries, additional chair on the board of the IMF like they have done in the World Bank as you know African countries are represented by three chairs now not two. In the IMF, they still have two and that has to change.

How should the call for the war against illicit financing be handled?

The estimate of large amount of illicit financing flowing out of the continent is enormous and I’m very proud that ministers of finance of Africa, under the aegis of the AU  and ECA commissioned former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa to do this famous report which showed that African countries experienced an outflow of about $50 billion as illicit financing each year due to transfer pricing, trade mis-invoicing (over invoicing and under invoicing of trade, base erosion and base shifting, this refers to the efforts of multinational companies working in the region trying to shift their profit base to country where their tax is lower, meaning they are not paying proper tax in the country they are operating and making the money. All of this contributes to the $50 billion outflow and this revelation is very important. We now have an idea of the amount and I think the IMF and the World Bank should help with supporting analysis of country by country so that each country can know its figure.

In Nigeria, we commissioned the African Development Bank, the Global Financial Integrity. ADB paid for the report for them to look at Nigeria. I don’t think it’s finished but when they finish it, it should have an indication for our own country of how much has been going out each year and following that they will also analyse how because you have all this causes but you ask which one is peculiar to your own country. Once you have that, you will then need to work the IMF and the World Bank to say they will have to put the capacity to look and say these are measures in place and then, I also feel it should draw international attention. The OECD has just released a report, which contains an analysis of these bases. It suggested several recommendations which the international community needs to take. Also, our countries need to look very hard at these recommendations which they are trying to implement.

How will you describe the various processes of integration in Africa?

We still have a long way to go on the economic aspect of integration. I think we have done a lot. We have come a long way in terms of the political issues, I think the presidents have moved on the issue of governance on the issue of coup and we have seen their responses indicating nobody is going to recognise leaders of any coups as we have seen what happened in Burkina Faso as Senegal on behalf of ECOWAS was able to move in, but on the economic scene, there are still some challenges. Although some progress has been made but there is a lot to be done. First, we need infrastructure. Integration also needs connectivity, so we need better connectivity by road by rail, by air within the continent. That will help integration. We also need to sweep away, all the hurdles in front of people moving goods and services. All the inspections along the roads, stoppage of transport of goods and the cost they incur because many are stopped five to seven times. All that has to go and all that is needed is a political will so that goods can move freely. Rwanda and Kenya have done it by establishing a corridor and they have brought down the cost of logistics by 50 per cent for Rwanda. That’s a huge saving. We can do that. Those are the things we need to do as critical steps on integration.

What are the options for oil producing countries in Africa under the present circumstance?

The countries have to ask themselves the questions on how they secure themselves against this volatility. Nigeria has made tremendous progress. For instance, we had established all the mechanisms so that when the oil is high we save and we guard it to be used when the price crashes. Angola is better positioned because they have bigger sovereign wealth fund, their population is much lower, and they have slightly higher ability to absorb the shock than we do but in all of these, we have to establish a mechanism to take care of the volatility. That is a short term measure but in the long term, the answer lies in the fact that the various countries have to move away from their dependence on oil earnings.

For instance, Nigeria’s economy is well diversify but the revenue source is not, we have to look at how do we diversify, invest in the various sectors of the economy so that the tax base can broaden and can diversify the sources of revenue which means attention should be given to other sectors. Both Nigeria and Angola are oil producing countries and they also produce oil and gas. Agriculture in both countries is huge and has big potential and Nigeria has a very big internal market so that if it can do well there, it can save a lot of foreign exchange. This is what we need to focus on. How do we produce for ourselves so that we won’t have to buy so many things and how do we do it in a way that is sustainable.

Are there lessons to learn from the host country, Peru?

Peru is a middle income country. There are so much you can borrow from Peru. Putting in place steady infrastructure, that is one. They have urban rail transport system, so there is a good infrastructure to move people around. It’s not just the train system but the bus system. The place is clean. The first thing you notice first and foremost is how clean the place is, it means if you are poor you don’t have to be dirty. It shows there are many things we can do in our countries to make living environment pleasant for Africans whether poor or rich.

Another lesson we can learn is the fact that they have maintained steady policies over time. You cannot develop when you start one set of policies and many of our countries then, you stop and start again. That means there has to be a social contract /agreement that no matter what, a set of policies will be followed steadily so that the country can make progress not back and forth.

I think the third aspect is the social safety net. This was what we were trying to build in Nigeria. Attention to the social safety net which means if you have the growth of the economy, what you need to do is put in place a system that those at the very bottom, the vulnerable like women and girls will have transfer. We started in Nigeria to some extent and we were already doing a pilot in eight states and it was very successful. Conditional cash transfers, saying women, you will get these transfers if you bring your child for immunization, if you send your boys and girls to school, and we piloted it in eight states and it worked. The next stage was to broaden it into the entire country. That is very important. Peru has been doing that and it has worked for them. They are not just giving people cash. They are doing it and telling them they must send their children to school, they must look after the health of their children.

My Take-away from the IMF-World Bank Conference - Okonjo-Iweala

Africa’s Poverty Rate Drops to 43%, New W’Bank Report Reveals

A new World Bank report has put Africa’s poverty rate at 43 per cent compared to a previous figure of 56 per cent.

African head of states

The World Bank Vice President, Africa Region, Mr. Makhtar Diop said during a video conference on ‘End Poverty Day’ over the weekend that “We understand poverty has been going down in Africa significantly.”

Diop stated that the latest estimates came as “good news in the context where we have decay of solid growth in Africa averaging 5 per cent.”

“But while we are saying that, we have a lot of work to do because we still have a larger number of poor people in Africa, hundreds of millions,” he added.

He said the report represented the most recent poverty data available and seeks to highlight the need to know the determinants of poverty in Africa.

However, he said much of the progress in poverty reduction came from the non income dimension of poverty which witnessed improvement in literacy and child mortality rates as well as increase in life expectancy in the continent.

The Vice President further noted that the new figures were still a far cry compared to what is obtainable in other developing world. He said poverty eradication should not be limited to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but seen as foremost demand from the people of Africa.

“As society becomes more and more open, people are voicing the needs and wants for more inclusive growth,”, he said in a video conference from Ghana.

The reported estimated that two out of five persons were still malnourished in Africa while education systems are serious problems in terms of quality.

Diop said more investments and tough actions were required by governments to fix the energy sector particular the electricity distribution company which appeared inefficient and largely contributed to the failure of power sector.

The new Africa Poverty Report released over the weekend highlighted weak poverty data in the continent and urged governments to strengthen research instruments. It further noted that though non monetary dimension of well-being improved, levels remained low and progress had leveled off.

It said poverty in Africa may be lower than current estimates suggest although more “people are poor today than in 1990.” It also said inequality patterns vary across the African continent.

It further expressed concern over the low quality of surveys conducted by countries – some often incomparable. It cited a particular case of Nigeria as an example.

It said: “One survey of Nigeria’s poverty rate in 2010 estimated the figure at 26 per cent; another conducted the same year, putting the figure at 53 per cent. With 20 per cent of Africa’s population in Nigeria, this discrepancy makes a big difference in tracking trends in the region.”

Africa’s Poverty Rate Drops to 43%, New W’Bank Report Reveals

World Bank defends $75m loan to Edo

The World Bank has defended its $75 million loan to Edo State Government, saying it grants significant funding only to governments it trusts will use the funds judiciously to achieve its development results.

Oshiomhole

Speaking yesterday at a 3-day retreat for members of the State Executive Council and Permanent Secretaries holding at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja to brainstorm and re-strategise on raising the bar on governance in the state, with the theme, “Finishing Well”, two top executives of the World Bank, Mrs Gloria Joseph Raji and Dr Khwima Nthara said the Bank trusts Edo State Government to use the fund properly as it only provides support to governments the Bank trusts to use its funds for development results.

The Bank executives said “Each time we came to Edo, we were quite impressed that we were taken around to see the results of these reforms and that is why it was easy for us at the world Bank to sell the reforms programmes in Edo to our Board in Washington.”

Mrs. Gloria Joseph Raji, Senior Economist, Macro-Economic and Fiscal Management, World Bank, Nigeria said, “through programmes for result financing, the World Bank provides finance for governments with a focus on result and capacity building. So disbursement of funds is based on specific program results that have been pre-agreed on between the bank and respective governments.

“For example, we could say, if you achieve this level of vaccination with your own resources, then we will disburse some money to you”.

Mrs. Joseph-Raji continued, “When we disbursed $75 million under the First Developmental Policy Operation to Edo State, we did not say to Edo State, you must use it to build this hospital, or this school or all of that, it was on the basis of your completion of critical policies and institutional actions which we call ‘prior actions’.

“So, the focus of Developmental Policy Financing is policy and institutional reforms. We work with you to implement certain policies and institutional reforms and on the basics of implementation of certain critical reforms and actions that we agreed on, we will disburse the entire trunk of the funds.”

She emphasised the need for institutional reforms as this she says, ensure continuity of government developmental programs even after their tenure.

She said, “Institutional reforms are very important because they outlived government regimes so, it is important for governments to undertake reforms of their systems and processes, institutionalized them and that is what the focus of DPO are, to support policies and institutional reform efforts and the bank is usually on hand to provide Policy and strategic advice, so we work with the governments in designing, in thinking through your policy and institutional reforms actions and then we provide advice as necessary.

“On the basis of the completion of certain critical policies and institutional reforms actions which has been agreed between you and the Bank, the loan is approved by the bank and so, funds are being transferred. The entire trunk of funds is transferred into the government bank account and they are co-mingled with your other funds. The funds are not tied to specific projects, you co-mingled them into your funds and you spend them on your needs.”

She stressed, “The Bank provides significant funding to only governments it trusts will use the funds properly to achieve its development results because if we do not trust that you will use this fund judiciously, it would be a risk of the fund. So DPO’s are provided basically to those governments that the Bank trusts to use the funds for development results”.

Also speaking, the Programme Leader, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institution, World Bank, Nigeria, Dr Khwima Nthara said, “reforms have to be institutionalized. Edo is very lucky today to have a very reform minded Governor, next year, he leaves office. We pray that a like-minded Governor takes over from him but circumstances change, you don’t know who else is going to come with the Governor and that is why it is important to institutionalize reforms so that they should transcend individual personality.

“Even when Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is not here, his legacy should remain, not just what he has achieved, but the building blocks of the reform programs must remain so that even when the regime changes, the reforms might stay. That is why institutionalizing those reforms are important.

“Each time we came to Edo, we were quite impressed that we were taken around to see the results of these reforms and that is why it was easy for us at the world Bank to sell the reforms programmes in Edo to our Board in Washington.

The World Bank team noted that of the 36 states of the federation, only Lagos and Edo State Governments as well as the Federal Government have been able to access this developmental funds and therefore called on other state governments to embark on critical, efficient and Developmental reforms project to enable them quality for the World Bank Developmental funds

World Bank defends $75m loan to Edo

Shortage of long-term finance hampers growth in Nigeria, others, says W’Bank

By Agency Reporter

A NEW World Bank report has revealed that shortage of long-term financing since the 2008 global financial crisis has choked investment-backed growth of companies in developing countries and hampered ability of credit-worthy families to borrow for education and housing needs.

Source: U.S Department of Agriculture

According to the report, the use of long-term financing by small and medium enterprises in developing countries fell by almost half since the 2008 credit crunch, leading to concerns among international policymakers.

According to the report, in Nigeria, it is difficult for companies in the real sector– manufacturing and production–to access the needed fund for operations, even at higher costs, leading to various intervention programmes by government agencies, in the absence of banks’ capacity to shoulder big ticket funding. Coupled with assessed infrastructure challenges, the available long-term finance has been put at rates that make the expected returns to investment almost unattractive, stoking failures and worsening unemployment situation as well as standard of living.

At the global level, this shortage of long-term financing also means that despite appeals by the Group of Twenty (G-20) and other key international groups, developing countries are struggling to mobilise the billions of dollars in financing they need to build badly-needed infrastructure in order to grow their national and regional economies.

According to the new report, Global Financial Development Report 2015-2016: Long-term Financing, extending the maturity structure of finance is considered to be at the core of sustainable financial development. Securing long-term financing, defined as investment funding that matures in a year or more, depends on the same fundamentals essential to tackling the current volatility in global capital markets.

The global bank noted that policy makers need to focus on institutional reforms, such as promoting macroeconomic stability, establishing a regulated and legally enforceable banking and investment system that protects creditors and borrowers, and setting a framework for capital markets and institutional investors.

The World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, says: “It would be a challenge to achieve high and sustainable rates of economic growth if countries fail to invest in schools, roads, power generation, electricity distribution, railways and other modes of transport, and communications. Private sector construction of plants and investment in machinery and equipment are also important. Without long-term financing, households face great hurdles to raising income over their lives – for example by investing in housing or education – and may not benefit from higher long-term returns on their savings.”

The bank noted that long-term finance has a fundamental role to play in generating higher growth and welfare, as without it, firms struggle to expand, households under-invest in their health and education, and economies miss out on critical infrastructure investments.

The Global Financial Development Report 2015 identifies the levers available to policy makers to promote greater access. It builds on the two previous global financial development reports to provide a nuanced, practical, and evidence-based approach to financial sector policy. “The challenges of extending the maturity structure of finance are often considered to be at the core of effective, sustainable financial development. Sustainably extending long-term finance may contribute to the objectives of higher growth and welfare, shared prosperity and stability in two ways,” a statement on the bank’s web site noted.

According to the Group, by reducing rollover risks for borrowers, thereby lengthening the horizon of investments; and by increasing the availability of long-term financial instruments, households are allowed to address their lifecycle challenges.

Unlocking resources and connecting development assistance to infrastructure, industry and other essential investments to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, has at several global fora, been described as impossible in the absence of long term financing.

“The use of long-term finance is typically more limited in developing countries, particularly for smaller firms.  For example, the median long-term debt to asset ratio for a small firm in a developing country is only 1.4 per cent, whereas its high income country counterparts uses more than five times as much long-term finance at 7.3 per cent.

“Firms in high-income countries report financing almost 40 per cent of their fixed assets externally, whereas this figure is barely 20 per cent in low-income countries,” a World Bank report noted.

Shortage of long-term finance hampers growth in Nigeria, others, says W’Bank

Nigerian secures $7m grant for agric training centre

A Nigerian, Saidat Shonoiki, has received a $7 million grant from the World Bank to build a sustainable agricultural training centre.

The young lady was a 2014 fellow of the Mandela Washington Fellowship, a flagship programme of United States President Barrack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative.

The US ambassador, James Entwistle, said this on Tuesday in Abuja via satellite in Lagos during the pre-departure orientation for 40 Nigerians that will participate in the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship.

The new fellows  would undergo a six-week mentoring in civic leadership, entrepreneurship, public administration and business management at 20 American universities.

Entwistle explained that the White House created  the initiative out of recognition of the critical and increasing role that young Africans are playing in strengthening democratic institutions, spurring economic growth and enhancing peace and security in Africa.

The envoy stated that an agricultural entrepreneur, Lawrence Afere, also raised N5 million for the construction of plantain chips factory after learning the techniques of crowd funding during his fellowship at Northwestern university.

According to him, 45 fellows from Nigeria were among 500 young people selected across Africa to engage in the intensive fellowship at 20 top American universities in 2014.

Entwistle said, “Since their return, the fellows have been using the knowledge and experiences they acquired in the US to scale up their businesses and initiate projects that will have tremendous impact on society.

“For example, Saidat Shonoiki recently received a $7 million grant from the World Bank to build a sustainable agricultural training centre.”

The envoy expressed the hope that upon their return, the new fellows would share what they would learn with members of their communities and leverage the networks they have established to their maximum potential.

Entwistle said the US embassy looks forward to working with the fellows upon their return to expand the influence of the programme and to engage over 20,000 Nigerians within the YALI network.

Nigerian secures $7m grant for agric training centre

How Civil Society helped block secret plot by Lagos Govt

The announcement sent a collective sigh of relief to the water corporation staff and civil society activists. After months of negotiation on how to privatize the water supply in Lagos, between the World Bank and the Lagos Water Corporation, the bank has called off the talks.

But before the bank’s decision, activists and civil servants had mounted pressure on the water company against such a move, which they said would raise the cost of having access to water beyond the reach of ordinary Lagosians.

The Corporation’s staff, who stood to lose their jobs, went a step further to threaten to do “everything to frustrate” the move.

Last month, the World Bank issued a statement announcing a breakdown in talks between its International Finance Corporation and the Lagos Water Corporation.

“Contrary to recent reports, IFC has not signed any agreement with the Lagos Water Corporation (LWC),” the bank said in the statement. “LWC expressed interest in working with IFC and we had a number of discussions on how we might be able to assist the company. In the end, IFC decided not to advise LWC. We continue to support the government and people of Nigeria in achieving their development goals.”

Shrouded in secrecy

The latest round of negotiations between the bank and the LWC to design a water privatization scheme in the state began 18 months ago.

With public outcry on the danger of such a move, the LWC maintained that it was not going into privatization, just discussions on how to optimize water supply to Lagosians.

But details of their negotiations were kept away from the public, including civil society groups who had pushed for information disclosure.

In October last year, a rights advocacy group, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), said it made attempts to obtain information relating to the negotiation but continually met brick walls.

“Despite the World Bank’s 60-day disclosure policy, the Lagos contract had not been disclosed on the bank’s website and had been hidden from civil society,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Director of Corporate Accountability, ERA/FoEN.

With pressure from Nigerian groups, hundreds of other civil society bodies and activists across the United States began calling and sending out messages to the World Bank demanding full disclosure of the project.

“Our investigations indicate that the IFC is currently being paid by the Lagos government as an official advisor to develop a plan for the city’s water privatization,” Mr. Oluwafemi said.

“And this advisory contract is undisclosed by both the World Bank and the Lagos government, and both the privatization the IFC is designing and the advisory contract itself are being carried out in secrecy, without public participation and input from Lagosian stakeholders.

“This lack of transparency leaves residents with very little information about important developments that will affect them directly.

In December, a PREMIUM TIMES’ Freedom of Information request for details of the negotiations with the World Bank also met a brick wall. An official at the LWC headquarters at Ijora declined to answer questions put to him and promised to e-mail answers or arrange an interview with the Group Managing Director, Shayo Holloway.

He did neither.

Lagos State has two major waterworks at Iju and Adiyan, providing a combined supply of 115 Million Gallons Per Day for the 20 million residents, according to information on LWC’s website.

Expansion of other waterworks – micro and mini waterworks – spread across the state has been ongoing for years, and provision of tap water is still limited to a fraction of the population.

The corporation says its current installed capacity is 210 million gallons per day, whereas the actual water demand in Lagos is 540 million gallons per day.

Most residents solve their water needs through self-help, patronizing water vendors, digging wells, or sinking boreholes in their homes.

No Privatization Plans

Before the World Bank announced its decision to shelve talks with Lagos State government, the LWC management had continued to insist that it had no plans to privatize the corporation.

Mr. Holloway said, in a statement December, that the Lagos State government was only trying to partner with the private sector “in a bid to increase water supply and alleviate poverty”.

“According to Engr. Holloway, PPP (Public Private Partnership) is not Privatization. Privatization involves the sale of government-owned asset to private investors, while PPP involves fresh injection of private capital into the efficient management of government-owned assets,” said the statement published on the corporation’s website.

“In order to meet the demand gap as well as the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) 2015, LWC has developed a Lagos Water Supply Master Plan (2010 – 2020) which outlines the infrastructure development programmes into short, medium and long term phases.

“By year 2020, water demand is expected to be 733 million gallons per day, while the water production will be 745 million gallons per day, leaving us with the excess of 12 million gallons per day. The need to bridge the gap has necessitated the involvement of the private sector by way of injecting more capital to improve efficiency of existing state-owned assets.”

The LWC refused to make public the nature of its partnership with the “private sector.”

But according to information obtained by PREMIUM TIMES, the water corporation’s plans involved a concession of the state-owned major water works to private investors who would produce water and sell to the government. And the government would then sell to the final consumer.

Dissatisfied workers

On December 17, the corporation’s workers’ union, the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees, AUCPTRE, held a meeting with the management where they aired their disagreement with the planned “partnership”.

Tomiwa Odusanwo, the chairman, AUCPTRE branch of LWC, insisted that the management was planning to privatize the corporation.

“You cannot know my management beyond me,” Mr. Odusanwo told PREMIUM TIMES in an interview in January.

“We were not carried along. The funny thing is that we heard it over the news, read it in newspapers, and because we have seen how it was recorded in other African countries, even in western world.”

“The Iju and Adiyan water works are going to be in concession as well. There are some foreign investors now, in their master plan for 2010-2020, that those investors will use their money and construct mini water works.”

At a workers’ meeting at the LWC headquarters in Ijora, Mr. Odusanwo and his colleagues were unanimous that they won’t go the way of the staff of the recently privatized Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, who protested for months over the non-payment of their severance benefits.

“The management of Water Corporation, presently, are after capital projects. They are not after welfare of the staff or anything that will benefit the staff. That is why we are saying no to that privatization,” said Mr. Odusanwo.

“Because presently now the corporation is owing pension, gratuity, plus pension to PENCOM close to N1 billion. As I speak to you now our deducted pension was not remitted adequately to our PFA (Pension Fund Administrator).

“The corporation is indebted seriously. So with privatization, many of us will be laid off without going home with a penny and that will be so disastrous for us.”

The involvement of the World Bank and its investment arm – the IFC- in water schemes across the world has not exactly been a success story.

Recently, many cities that, in expectation of availability of affordable potable water, signed a two decade or longer water concessions with private investors, have terminated the contracts and returned their water systems to the state.

According to Transnational Institute, an organization that studies global needs, 180 communities and cities across the globe, from Accra to Kuala Lumpur, have returned water provision to public control in the past ten years.

In January, the IFC announced it had no ongoing water concession projects in Africa, after about 30 per cent of its water investment in Africa over the past two decades resulted into a failure.

“Like in Manila, in Ghana, World Bank corporate partners attempted to privatize and profit from water,” said Mr. Oluwafemi.

“Poor service, limited access and chronic quality problems forced the Ghanaian government not to renew a bank-backed contract for a private corporation to manage the country’s water.

“Around the world, the IFC advises governments, conducts corporate bidding processes, designs complex and lopsided water privatization contracts, dictates arbitration terms, and is part-owner of water corporations that win the contracts it designs and recommends, all the while aggressively marketing the model to be replicated around the world.

“Not only do these activities undermine democratic water governance, but they constitute an inherent conflict of interest within the IFC’s activities in the water sector, an alarming pattern seen from Eastern Europe to India to Southeast Asia.”

In Lagos, commercial sale of water by individuals is big business, with a 20-litre jerry can selling for N20 in most areas in the metropolis.

However, the cost of the water provided by the LWC comes at a cheaper rate, depending on the location.

In Dolphin Estate, Victoria Island, for instance, a flat pays a monthly rate of N800 for water while a duplex is billed N2, 400.

Water rates on the mainland costs even cheaper.

In Surulere for instance, a flat is charged N500, while a duplex is N800 monthly. At the Ojota axis, where there are a lot of single room apartments (popularly known as ‘Face-me-I-Face-You), a room is N100. A flat is N500, and a duplex N800.

According to civil society groups, water privatization negates the 2010 United Nations recognition of water as a fundamental human right.

“If the IFC was successful in securing a large-scale water PPP in Lagos, it would mirror that of the electricity sector privatization, which has imposed sky-rocketing electricity bills without delivering improved service,” Mr. Oluwafemi said.

“The IFC’s track record in the water sector is frightening: prices sky rocket, utility workers lose their jobs, water quality suffers, low-income communities have their water shut off, governments incur devastating debt, and public sovereignty is threatened by undemocratic arbitration.

“Privatization is not the solution for Lagos: it leads to corporate profits and has never provided universal access.

Additionally, if the IFC deal (had sailed) through, it would have opened the doors for several contracts for water corporations to take over the water system, and bidding by 2015.”

How Civil Society helped block secret plot by Lagos Govt

World Bank ranks Nigeria 170 among business-friendly countries

The World Bank has ranked Nigeria, 170 among 189 countries in terms of ease of doing business across the world.

Nigeria

In the report released on Wednesday, Singapore emerged the best country in the world to do business while Mauritius emerged the best in Africa with ranking 28.

Nigeria’s ranking for 2015 is slightly better than the ranking for 2014 which placed the country 175 out of 189 that were surveyed.

The annual World Bank Group Doing Business report analysis regulations that apply to an economy’s businesses during their life cycle, including start-up and operations, trading across borders, paying taxes, and resolving insolvency.

The aggregate ease of doing business rankings are based on the distance to frontier scores for 10 topics and cover 189 economies.

The bank, however, warned that the Doing Business report does not measure all aspects of the business environment that matter to firms and investors.

For example, it does not measure the quality of fiscal management, other aspects of macroeconomic stability, the level of skills in the labor force, or the resilience of financial systems.

Its findings have stimulated policy debates worldwide and enabled a growing body of research on how firm-level regulation relates to economic outcomes across economies, the bank said in a statement. This year’s report marks the 12th edition of the global Doing Business report series.

This year, for the first time, the Doing Business report analysed business regulations in Kano as well as Lagos. Nigeria is one of 11 economies with a population of more than 100 million where the report now covers two cities, providing new insights into the variability of business regulation within economies.

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World Bank ranks Nigeria 170 among business-friendly countries

World Bank withdrawal affected extension services in agriculture — Kassim

Extension service is one area of agriculture development in the country that is being relegated to the background due to lack of fund.

But  Dr. Abdulkadir  Kassim, the Programme Manager, Kaduna state Agriculture Development Programme, says for the country to be food sufficient there is need to pay attention to extension service.

In this interview with JIMOH BABATUNDE in his office in Kaduna, Dr. Kassim talks about how the agency takes research results to farmers, leading led to increase in food production.  Here is an excerpt

Background

The agricultural development programme is the extension arm of the ministry of agriculture in all the states of the federation. The histories of the Agriculture Development programmes (ADPs) date back to the early ‘70s and the essence of the organisation is to ensure that you educate and enlighten farmers and also guide them on where and how to get relevant production inputs that will make agriculture business rather than the subsistence system that our parents are involved in.

On the contribution of the agency to ensure food security

Actually, when we say extension services, it encompasses virtually everything relating to educating people on the means and ways of better production that will lead to productivity.

So, as an ADP, what we do is try to see that we articulate programmes and projects that will ultimately lead to those things that will contribute to the productivities of the farmers.

So we start by ensuring that we have extension staff all over the fields in the state. Here in Kaduna, we have four zones and we have 23 local governments. These zones are compartmentalised based on the number of local governments.

We try to see that we send extension workers and enumerators into the fields that give new information on agriculture productivity to the farmers in the various locations.

In doing that you know the world is dynamic, we don’t stay static. We make sure the extension workers themselves get trained so as to be equipped with new technologies which we shopped from the research institutes, especially Institute of Agriculture Research Institute in Zaria; IITA, Ibadan; and other research bodies.

We worked closely with the research people and developed programs of training. Whenever there are new things that we believe will help the farmers, we collaborate with the  research institutes who come to establish field researcher on the farmers’ fields for the farmers to appreciate rather than just throwing it at them.

We make them participate in the research at the various locations. If the farmers see the value of what we are doing, they adopt. Where there are problems in the fields and where such problems are more technical than the knowledge of our extension staff, they carry such complains to the subject matter- specialist in the ADP, either at the zonal level or the headquarters.

And if such things are beyond the knowledge of our people we convey that to the research institute to remedy the situation. So that is the kind of back forward linkage work we do.

Essentially, extension is a bridge between the farmers and the research institutes. So we also try to educate the farmers on where and how to source for highly improved inputs, in terms of seeds, in terms of agrochemicals, in terms of fertilisers, that is in addition to the knowledge we pass at our own level.

We tried to link them up as government can’t provide everything here. But our state government has always supported the extension network, to make sure we don’t fail in this responsibility either by way of conducting trainings or production of leaflets or using media outfits like the radio and TV because our people listen more to the radio and so we translate the messages into local languages so as to let the farmers know new things that will improve their productivity in agriculture.

On the programmes taken to the farmers by the ADP

You see hitherto the production of rice in Kaduna state is always very low and traditionally known to be in swampy areas. But we have developed in conjunction with the research institutes varieties of seeds that you can plant all year round.

Kaduna state is now the highest producers of upland rice in the country. We produce massively in thousands of hectares.

Maize that we used to harvest one or one and half tons per hectares. But with the introduction of new varieties farmers now harvest five tons per hectare with an average of three tons per hectares.

Kaduna is now also the highest producer of maize. If you look at soya beans, it used not to be a crop for Nigeria per ser, but now it is an industrial crop that we produce in large quantity in the state due to the ADP programmes fully supported by the government.

If you look at the quantum of the other traditional crops like sorghum and vegetable, you will see that many people have now gone into agriculture.

In the area of livestock what we have been trying to advocate which is gradually taking shape is transforming the breeds of the livestock. Our local breeds are not very productive, either due to genetic factors or due to poor management structure and feeding.

So what we do is try to cross breed our local breeds with foreign breeds so that we can get high breeds that are much more resistant to diseases and higher in productivity and quick to grow.

 

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World Bank withdrawal affected extension services in agriculture — Kassim

World Bank wants equal chances for women

Jim Kim, World Bank Group President on Thursday in Washington called for equal opportunities for women globally.

He said this at the launching ceremony of a report on women compiled by “Voice and Agency Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity finds.”

Kim said persistent constraints and deprivations that prevented many of the world’s women from achieving their potential had huge consequences for individuals, families, communities, and nations.

“If the world is going to end extreme poverty and ensure that prosperity is shared by all, we have to have the full and equal participation of women and men, girls and boys, around the world,” he said.

He said that the report noted increasing school enrolment and achieving gender equality in enrolment were long-standing development goals.

Kim stressed that women’s land rights could be strengthened by progressive legal reforms and improved governance.

The report said that girls with little or no education were far more likely to be married as children.

It said they were more likely to suffer domestic violence, live in poverty and lack a say over household spending or their own health care than better-educated peers.

It indicated that 65 per cent of women with primary education globally were married as children and lacked control over household resources. It said they are also prone to domestic-beating, compared with five per cent of women who finished high school.

It said across 18 of the 20 countries with the highest prevalence of child marriage, girls with no education were up to six times more likely to marry than girls with high school education.

It said nearly one in five girls in developing countries, became pregnant before age 18, while pregnancy-related causes account for most deaths among girls aged between 15 and 19 in the developing world.

It said this usually led to death of over 70,000 deaths each year.

World Bank wants equal chances for women

Nigeria is not a poor country - President Jonathan

Abuja – President Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, faulted the World Bank report which placed Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world, saying “the nation is not poor.’’

Addressing workers at the May Day rally held at the Eagle Square, Abuja, the President said “the challenge of the country is not poverty, but redistribution of wealth.’’

He said that the realities on ground did not portray the country as a poor nation, but a nation which abundant wealth needed to be evenly redistributed.

The President added that his administration was working assiduously and putting policies in place to ensure that Nigerians had access to financial resources to create wealth for themselves.

“Nigeria is not a poor country. Nigerians are the most travelled people. There is no country you go that you will not see Nigerians. The GDP of Nigeria is over half a trillion dollars and the economy is growing at close to 7 per cent.’’

“Aliko Dangote was recently classified among the 25 richest people in the World.

“I visited Kenya recently on a state visit and there was a programme for Nigerian and Kenyan business men to interact and the number of private jets that landed in Nairobi that day was a subject of discussion in Kenyan media for over a week.

“If you talk about ownership of private jets, Nigeria will be among the first 10 countries, yet they are saying that Nigeria is among the five poorest countries.

“Some of you will experience that there is an amount of money you will give to a Nigerian who needs help and will not even regard it and thank you but if you travel to other countries and give such an amount, the person will celebrate.

“But the World Bank statistics shows that Nigeria is among the five poorest countries. Our problem is not poverty, our problem is redistribution of wealth.’’

The President added that “probably wealth is concentrated in very few hands and a number of people do not have access to it and that is why my administration is committed in terms of financial inclusiveness and we are working very hard to achieve this.’’

Jonathan specifically noted that in the agriculture sector, government introduced the electronic wallet for farmers in rural areas so they could access income through bank facilities.

He said government was also moving agriculture from just a rural development programme to wealth creation and major business programme, adding that government had taken pro-active steps and policies to stabilise power “so that small and medium-scale enterprises will thrive.

“The key commitment of government is to make sure that so many Nigerians have access to finance so that they will be able to create wealth for themselves.’’

The President also read certain political undertones in the processes of ratings by international bodies and global rating agencies.

He explained that “so many countries were downgraded economically in the few past months including some African countries.

“They looked at Nigeria and we gave explanations and they could not see any convincing reason but to downgrade our economy, they left us as BB minus.

“They said elections are coming, politicians are shouting at themselves, it may affect their economy, we will no longer give you stable outlook but give you negative outlook, which is same BB minus.

“When so many countries have been downgraded, they said Nigeria is one of the five poorest countries.’’

Jonathan assured that with the support of Nigerians and in particular, the organised labour, the nation would overcome its challenges and take its pride of palce in the globe.

“We must collectively move this country to where we want to go. Government is working with labour leaders and workers of this country to create wealth. We will sure move this country to where we want to go.’’

The President also reiterated that the on-going National Conference was not personal but meant to evolve a roadmap that would redefine Nigeria.

He said he had no personal agenda for initiating the Conference, but for the common good and progress of the country.

He added that “a number of people came to me that any President that set up this kind of conference must have a roadmap set for him. But I said to them that the roadmap is the roadmap for Nigeria.

“Jonathan has no personal roadmap for the conference. You can go and ask the over 500 people that are there whether I have sent any emissary to anybody to define anything for my own interest. I repeat, the issue is not Jonathan, I have spent three quarters of my life on earth.

“What we want is a Nigeria for our future generation. We will lead our country to where we want to go.’’

The President noted that the overall interest of the country informed the nomination of many representatives of organised labour, civil society organisations and youths to the conference.

This is the first time that the government is having a national conference and labour has such a number of representatives, he added.

He said the civil society was robustly represented at the conference and the first time that youths were well represented.

“There are 18 youth representatives at the conference which has never happen. We believe that as elders, we must prepare a country for the young generation and build a nation for our children and grandchildren.

“The conference is to redefine Nigeria,” he assured.

He noted that the resolution of the conference would be sent to the National Assembly to be implemented for national good.

“I believe that at the end of the conference, if the resolutions are agreed by everybody, I will be able to work with my brothers, sisters and friends in the National Assembly to see that whatever they agreed on sailed through.

“All what we want is to agree on something that is common and useful for the country. ‘’

The Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu, said that the theme of the 2014 Workers Day, “Building Enduring Peace and Unity’’ was impressive, apt and relevant.

He urged labour unions to have faith in the Jonathan administration as it continued to implement policies and plans for national emancipation.

He said the administration had ensured and would continue to ensure that the voices of labour was heard.

Wogi added that the Labour Bill drafted to improve the lots of workers pending before the National Assembly would soon be passed into law and urged the unions to be considerate in their demands. (NAN)

 

Nigeria is not a poor country - President Jonathan

Nigeria, third on world poverty index — World Bank

By OMOH GABRIEL in Washington

THE World Bank President,  Jim Yong Kim, yesterday, at the ongoing IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings restated that Nigeria is one of the top five countries that has the largest number of poor. Nigeria, he said ranked third in the world while India ranked number one with 33 per cent of the world poor. China is ranked second with 13 per cent of the world’s poor, followed by Nigeria where seven per cent of the world poor live in. He said that Bangladesh has six per cent share of the world’s poor while the Democratic Republic of Congo has five per cent of the world’s poor population.

Jim Yong Kim said these five countries are home to 760 million of the world’s poor, adding that another five countries, Indonesia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya would encompass almost 80 per cent of the extreme poor.

Noting that a sharp focus on these will be central to ending poverty, the world Bank President said “while economic growth remains vital for reducing poverty, growth has its limits, according to a new World Bank paper released today. Countries need to complement efforts to enhance growth with policies that allocate more resources to the extreme poor. These resources can be distributed through the growth process itself, by promoting more inclusive growth, or through government programs, such as conditional and direct cash transfers.

Direct cash transfers

“It is imperative not just to lift people out of extreme poverty; it is also important to make sure that, in the long run, they do not get stuck just above the extreme poverty line due to a lack of opportunities that might impede progress toward better livelihoods. Economic growth has been vital for reducing extreme poverty and improving the lives of many poor people. Yet, even if all countries grow at the same rates as over the past 20 years, and if the income distribution remains unchanged, world poverty will only fall by 10 percent by 2030, from 17.7 percent in 2010. This is simply not enough, and we need a laser like focus on making growth more inclusive and targeting more programmes to assist the poor directly if we’re going to end extreme poverty.”

Kim added: “To end extreme poverty, the vast numbers of the poorest – those earning less than $1.25 a day – will have to decrease by 50 million people each year until 2030. This means that one million people each week will have to lift themselves out of poverty for the next 16 years. This will be extraordinarily difficult, but I believe we can do it. This can be the generation that ends extreme poverty.

“Growth alone is unlikely to end extreme poverty by 2030 because as extreme poverty declines, growth on its own tends to lift fewer people out of poverty. This is because, by this stage, many of the people still in extreme poverty live in situations where improving their lives is extremely difficult. Even if there is no change in inequality, the “poverty-reducing power” of economic growth is less in countries that are initially more unequal.”

Extreme poverty

Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the World Bank, Kaushik Basu, said, “It is a sad commentary on our prosperous world that over one billion people live in extreme poverty. It is a welcome call from the World Bank Group to not just mitigate poverty but bring it to closure and also to strive for a more equitable world. To achieve these ends we will need determination, but also ideas and innovation, for the ways of the economy can be strange.”

He noted that the World Bank’s shared prosperity goal, endorsed by shareholders in 2013, provides a window into understanding inequalities of income and opportunities, stressing that while significant progress has been made in lifting people out of extreme poverty, many people remain poor, often due to lack of opportunity.

Tackling poverty requires understanding where the greatest number of poor live, while at the same time also concentrating on where hardship is most pervasive. This entails concerted efforts in countries where large numbers of the world’s 1.2 billion poor live.

The top five countries, in terms of numbers of poor, are India (with 33 percent of the world’s poor), China (13 percent), Nigeria (7 percent), Bangladesh (6 percent) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (5 percent), which together are home to nearly 760 million of the world’s poor. Adding another five countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya – would encompass almost 80 percent of the extreme poor. “Hence, a sharp emphasis on these countries will be central to ending extreme poverty, he said.

 

Nigeria, third on world poverty index — World Bank