Contact in Abuja:
Obadiah Tohomdet
Tel: (09-3145269-75)
Fax: 09-3145267
otohomdet@worldbank.org Abuja, Nigeria, March 19, 2004 — World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn expressed confidence in Nigeria's emerging program for economic development and reform, and said that the Bank is prepared to invest as much as $1 billion over the next two years to support the effort. In an address to Cabinet, Parliamentary and other Nigerian leaders, the World Bank president congratulated the government's economic team on its recently unveiled National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and strongly endorsed the participatory process through which the team is consulting with stakeholders throughout the country. He stressed the importance of the program's success, not only for Nigeria, but for all Africa. "If Nigeria succeeds, as I expect and hope it will," he said, " then that will change the face of Africa," noting that one out of five Africans is a Nigerian. The World Bank president was in Nigeria for a three-day visit, in which he also held meetings with President Obasanjo, the government's economic team, civil society organizations, and youth leaders. Mr. Wolfensohn also visited Aba in Abia State, where he with the governor and with a group of local entrepreneurs, and had a aerial tour of the Niger Delta, followed by a meeting with community leaders from that area. The World Bank's financial assistance over the next two years would be designed to support Nigeria's efforts to reform state government, develop youth, restructure the civil service, and improve infrastructure, health and education. Since Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999, the World Bank has committed $1.1 billion to a variety of development projects, making its lending program in Nigeria one of the fastest-growing programs in Africa. In all his meetings, Mr. Wolfensohn underscored the importance of the government's determination to attack corruption. "Corruption is a cancer in the country," he told Cabinet and Parliamentary leaders. "You can pretend to live with the cancer, but it kills you." Mr. Wolfensohn later called for a "national change of heart" in which all levels of society mobilized behind the anti-corruption drive. He also praised the Nigerian government's commitment to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, providing greater disclosure of Nigeria's oil and gas revenues, which amounted to $16.4 billion in 2003. Greater transparency on the use of oil and gas income, along with more disclosure on budgets, particularly allocations to state and local government, are seen as concrete steps to combat official corruption and mismanagement. In a frank discussion with civil society leaders on Nigeria's corruption and governance problems, Mr. Wolfensohn emphasized that the worst problems were inherited from the period of military dictatorship. "You're starting form a period where governance was almost destroyed, where education was degraded and where you had a huge increase in poverty," he said. Expressing strong confidence in the country's new economic team, he added that now, "you'll have a real possibility of change." Turning to Nigeria's debt burden, which stands at $32.8 billion, Mr. Wolfensohn said that creditors will have more confidence that debt relief can accelerate poverty reduction if the government can establish a track record of improved resource management and effective anti-corruption policies. "You will not get debt relief unless you show it's a new day in Nigeria," he said at the meeting with youth leaders. He urged the government's economic team to work closely with Paris Club creditors, who have extended more than 80% of the country's loans, and to engage them in the evolving reform program. As Nigeria makes concrete changes to improve economic management, he stressed, the World Bank would work to advocate debt reduction, higher levels of development assistance and more open trade policies among industrialized countries. The World Bank's main program for debt relief, the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, cannot be applied in Nigeria's case, because the country's oil revenues place it outside the threshold for HIPC debt relief. Therefore, Nigerian debt relief would require a separate plan, tailored to the country's special situation. The World Bank president said he believed that the country has the necessary resources and talent to make a success of its development plan. He said what had to be built up was the political will needed to sustain the necessary changes. "The important thing is to stick with it," he stressed. Mr. Wolfensohn, who has placed a special emphasis on youth in the past year, requested a meeting with representatives of youth organizations in Nigeria. Noting that two thirds of all Nigerians are under 35 years old, he warned that when young people are deprived of opportunity and left with little means of influencing decisions that affect their lives, "they're subject to radical forms of leadership," or even criminal activities and violence. He called for programs to empower young people, and applauded recent government projects to expand their skills and job opportunities.
Mr. Wolfensohn said the World Bank is putting together a pilot program for youth employment and empowerment, focusing on skills development and micro-finance for young people to start and expand their enterprises. The plan will be considered by the World Bank board later this year.
|
RSS