Jubilation as World Bank releases $500m credit for FG special intervention programmes

– The World Bank has released a $500 million credit to the federal government’s special intervention programmes

– The credit will run for a period of three years and the social register will be reviewed every two years to determine those who have fallen into and exited the poverty line

– Nigerians who are interested in the transparency of the programmes would soon be able to review the databases as they are being made accessible by the social safety nets offices

The national coordinator of the National Social Safety Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO), Iorwa Apera, has disclosed that the federal government’s special intervention programmes under the social safety nets coordinating office has received a boost of $500 million credit from the World Bank.

He made the disclosure during a chat with newsmen on the activities of the NASSCO and the social safety nets programmes of the current administration, Tribune reports.

TRACKNEWS.NG gathers that he stated that the World Bank credit will run for a period of three years and that the coordinating office has a responsibility to review the social register every two years, in order to identify families that might have exited the poverty line and those who might have fallen-in due to circumstances.

He said so far, NASSCO has so far developed a social register for poor and vulnerable Nigerians in 20 states of the federation affecting 578,645 Poor and Vulnerable Households (PVHHs), 2, 276, 996 individuals with 1, 128,390 males and 1,148,576 females.

He said the register is put together with direct inputs from affected communities and is difficult to hijack by politicians.

He further disclosed that Nigerians who are interested in the transparency of the programmes would soon be able to review the databases as they are being made accessible by the social safety nets offices.

He added: “We are prepared to take media men on tours of communities, not just to earmark but to eye-mark the implementation process.”

Meanwhile, TRACKNEWS.NG previously reported that the World Bank said that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will likely drop to two percent in 2018, largely driven by non-oil industry and services.

According to the international apex bank’s report issued in Abuja on Wednesday, November 28, there are indications that Nigeria, like many nations, has invested little in human capital.

The report, tagged ‘Investing in Human Capital for Nigeria’s Future’, charges stakeholders to join the federal government in dealing with the alarming human capital outcomes.