FOCUS ON THE NORTH: NIGERIAN GOVT. PARRIES WORLD BANK REPORT

President Muhammadu Buhari (right) and World Bank president, Mr Jim Yong-Kim, during a meeting at the Blair House in Washington DC, on Tuesday. Photo: State House.

FOCUS ON THE NORTH: NIGERIAN GOVT. PARRIES WORLD BANK REPORT

Nigerian government has denied reports that President Muhammadu Buhari specifically asked the World Bank to focus on the northern part of the country.

A statement by Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adeshina says Buhari actually asked the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim to give attention to the North Eastern part of Nigeria which has been devastated by eight years of Boko Haram war, and not to ignore other parts of Nigeria.

But Adeshina did deflect World Bank’s take that Nigeria should focus on human capital development in form of education and healthcare.

The World Bank believes that Nigeria’s economy would have turn up better if there was priority for Nigeria to invest in its people, like focus on better education and better healthcare for Nigeria.

“Nigeria has to think ahead and investing in its people, investing in the things that will allow Nigeria to be a thriving, rapidly growing economy in the future, is what the country has to focus on right now.  It can’t rely just on oil prices going back up.  It has to think, what are going to be the sources of growth in the future for Nigeria in what will surely be a more digitalized economy.

“And this is true for most of Africa.  If you look at the numbers in terms of how successfully African countries have invested into their human beings versus other regions, there is a real issue.  And so, over this next year, not only in Nigeria but in all of Africa.  We’re going to focus on accelerating investments in human capital we call it but investments in health, education, social protection, so that Africa can prepare itself for the next phase in economic development”, Kim said.

 Adesina, gave his clarification against the backdrop of what he called ‘misinformation and distortion going on in a section of the media’ following the break of the news yesterday.

He said: “Those who specialize in a deliberate twisting of information have wailed and raged endlessly on the news item credited to the World Bank Group President, Jim Yong Kim, who disclosed in Washington DC, United States of America, that President Muhammadu Buhari had requested a concentration of the Bank’s intervention efforts in the northern part of Nigeria, particularly in the North-east,” Adesina said, Friday.

“The ignorant and mischievous people, who twist everything for their vile purposes, are making it seem that it was a calculated attempt to give the North an unfair advantage over other parts of Nigeria.

“The truth of the matter is that President Buhari, right from his first week in office in June, 2015, had reached out to the G-7 in Germany that Nigeria needed help to rebuild the North-east, which had been terribly devastated by insurgency. He said the country would prefer help in terms of rebuilding of infrastructure, rather than cash donation, which may end up being misappropriated. In concert with Governors of the region, a comprehensive list of needed repairs was sent to the G-7 leaders.

“Also, during a trip to Washington in 2015, and many other engagements that followed, President Buhari sought the help of the World Bank in rebuilding the beleaguered North-east, which was then being wrested from the stranglehold of a pernicious insurgency. It was something always done in the open, and which reflected the President’s concern for the region.

“Those ululating over the disclosure by the President of the World Bank should be a bit reflective, and consider the ravages that the North-east has suffered since 2009, when the Boko Haram insurgency started. Schools, hospitals, homes, entire villages, towns, cities, bridges, and other public utilities have been blown up, laid waste, and lives terminated in excess of 20,000, while widows and orphans littered the landscape. The humanitarian crisis was in monumental proportions.

“President Buhari simply did what a caring leader should do. He took the battle to the insurgents, broke their backs, and then sought for help to rebuild, so that the people could have their lives back. Should that then elicit the negative commentary that has trailed the disclosure from the World Bank? Not at all, except from insidious minds.

 “President Buhari has a pan-Nigerian mandate, and he will discharge his duties and responsibilities in like manner. Any part of the country that requires special attention would receive it, irrespective of primordial affinities, which narrow minded people have not been able to live above. This President will always work in the best interest of all parts of the country at all times. Let ethnic warriors sheathe their swords”, Adeshina said.