The World Bank has approved three operations totaling $1.57 billion to assist the Federal Government in enhancing human capital by improving healthcare for women, children, and adolescents, and in strengthening resilience to climate change impacts like floods and droughts through better dam safety and irrigation systems.
The new funding includes $500 million for addressing governance challenges in education and health delivery (HOPE-GOV), $570 million for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Program (HOPE-PHC), and $500 million for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project (SPIN).
Together, the HOPE-GOV and HOPE-PHC programs will aid the government in enhancing basic education and primary healthcare services, crucial for improving Nigeria’s human capital outcomes.
The SPIN project will focus on improving dam safety and water resource management for hydropower and irrigation in targeted regions.
The HOPE-GOV Program aims to address core governance issues within the education and healthcare sectors, focusing on challenges in financial and human resource management. It seeks to increase funding availability and efficiency in these sectors, enhance transparency and accountability, and improve recruitment and performance management of teachers and healthcare workers across federal, state, and local levels.
In line with the government’s new health sector reforms, the HOPE-PHC project under the Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative will improve the quality and usage of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition services.
This effort aims to significantly reduce maternal and under-five mortality rates, benefiting 40 million people, particularly vulnerable groups.
The project is funded by a $500 million International Development Association (IDA) credit and an additional $70 million grant from the Global Financing Facility (GFF), which includes contributions from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Children’s Investment Foundation Fund (CIFF).
The SPIN Program will protect Nigerian citizens from floods and drought by improving dam safety and operations. It will also support irrigation and drainage services for 40,000 hectares, benefiting up to 950,000 people, including households, farmers, and livestock breeders, by providing more reliable, climate-resilient irrigation and water supply, as well as boosting agricultural productivity through better irrigation water management.
Additionally, the SPIN project will assist the government in developing a master plan for hydropower and structuring a public-private partnership for a hydropower project.
“Effective investment in the health and education of Nigerians today is central to increasing their future employment opportunities, productivity, and earnings, while reducing poverty of the most vulnerable. This new financing for human capital and primary healthcare will help to address the complex difficulties faced by Nigerians especially women and girls around access and quality of services, but also the governance arrangements that also explain these difficulties” said Dr. Ndiamé Diop, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria.
“The SPIN program is timely and will protect Nigerians from floods and droughts in the areas where it will be implemented, while enabling an increase in hydropower generation. The direct positive impact of this project on people and livelihoods is enormous, The World Bank is pleased to work with the government and other stakeholders to deliver this program,” Diop added.