By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
ASHENEWS reports that the Islamic Development Bank (Isdb) has announced plans to commit $500 million for the implementation of various projects in Nigeria between 2024-2025.
A representative of the Isdb, Mr. Alagi Bashiru stated this in Minna on Monday when he met with the Niger state governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago ahead of a two-day workshop for the upgrading of the Minna-Bida road.
According to Bashiru, Nigeria currently has an accumulative funding approval of $ 1.9 billion through the Isdb for projects implemented across the agriculture, transport, energy, and ICT sectors.
This, he said includes $932 million provided to Nigeria from its ordinary refunds, $333 million approved by the international cooperation for the development of the private sector, and $507 million for trade finance, while its insurance arm has insured businesses in the country to the tune of $1.4 billion.
The Isdb representative disclosed that the latest portfolio reveal exercise for Nigeria showed that the quality of the performance of the country’s portfolio is hampered by several implementation challenges.
He listed the challenges to include delays in the fulfillment of bank financing effectiveness conditions, particularly the signing of the subsidiary loan agreement between the federal government and state government.
This he said, is in addition to the relatively low capacity of the project implementation units, counterpart funding issues, and delays in procurement.
“However, we have recently seen proactive states like Kaduna and Niger state closely engaging with the federal government.
“This we believe will ensure better coordination between the states and the federal ministry of finance,” he added.
He however expressed optimism that the approval for the construction of the Minna- Bida road would be devoid of these challenges.
“For this project, from the quality of the project monitoring units we have here, we believe that this project will not be associated with these challenges,” he said.
On the workshop, Bashiru said that the exercise signifies a significant milestone in the implementation of the project as it heralds the start of effective implementation of the various activities such as the civil works of the whole project
“This workshop is expected to enhance the capacity of the various executing agencies, and project management units and also improve their understanding of Isdb rules and guidelines to ensure smooth project implementation.
“Technical sessions will focus on Isdb procurement rules and procedures as well as disbursement procedures.
“We’ll look at issues on project implementation arrangement, project monitoring, and supervision,” he said.
In his remark, the Niger state governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago lauded the IsDB and the Abu Dhabi Fund for supporting the state government in the reconstruction of the Minna-Bida road.
Bago said that the project, when completed would boost the socioeconomic status of the state.
