Ogun, others to benefit from World Bank’s $900m ecological fund

OGUN State has been considered among other states that will benefit from a $900 million World Bank intervention fund on ecological challenges.

The World Bank’s assistance will serve as a timely succour to the families and towns across the gateway state that were affected by flood recently.

World Bank Country Director Rachid Benmessaoud said the global financial institution thought it wise to assist a number of people affected by the recent flooding in the state, as enunciated by Governor Dapo Abiodun when he requested for the bank’s assistance.

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor Kunle Somorin, who made this known in a statement yesterday, stated that the bank is partnering with Ogun State on a number of initiatives like the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP) aimed at providing institutional and logistic framework for a private-public partnership engagement in the areas of rural road construction and agricultural growth.

Some of the programmes, which the World Bank had keyed into, include Community and Social Development Programme; Saving One Million Lives Programme: Basic Healthcare Provision Fund; State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme. Others include the Rural Access and Mobility Programme, Nigeria for Women and the PPP.

The World Bank team, led by Benmessaoud, lauded the foresight of the Abiodun administration, but advised him to look into the indices that made the state’s healthcare fall by 10.5 per cent between 2015 and 2018.

Abiodun, who received the World Bank team in Abuja, identified Saving One Million Lives Programme: Basic Healthcare Provision Fund; State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme, Rural Access and Mobility Programme, Nigeria for Women and the PPP as critical projects that would enhance the welfare of Ogun people .