For HOPE initiatives, FG would borrow $500 million from the World Bank
In order to carry out the Human Capital Opportunities for Prosperity and Equity (HOPE) project, the Federal Government announced that it is negotiating a $500 million financing facility from the World Bank.
This was revealed by Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, yesterday when Axel Schimmelpfennig, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Mission Chief for Nigeria, paid him a courtesy call at his office.
The minister claims that the facility will improve the accessibility and efficiency of funding primary healthcare and basic education across the federation’s states.
He said that in addition to boosting teacher recruitment, deployment, and performance measures, the fund will increase accountability and transparency for basic education and primary health care.
“The Nigerian Constitution is the legal framework that provides the rules and procedures that guide the budget process, in addition to empowering the federal and state governments to make expenditures in line with the government’s services,” Bagudu said, thanking the World Bank for its support.
According to Chapter 5, Part 2, Section 122 of the Nigerian Constitution, “this expenditure can continue for a period not exceeding six months or until the law comes into operation,” he stated.
Bagudu clarified that the goal of the reforms President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration undertook was to create and execute tax and economic reforms that would ensure the nation’s Public Financial Management (PFM) systems operated more effectively.
“To put the Nigerian economy on the right track, the economic reforms are necessary decisions,” he stated.
He reassured the IMF delegation that Nigeria was headed toward economic recovery even if the country was facing a number of difficulties due to the elimination of fuel subsidies, foreign exchange floating, and electricity reforms.
He praised the IMF’s readiness to assist Nigeria and urged greater assistance from international partners in the form of resource mobilization to advance the country’s economy in all areas.
In order to prepare for the release of the World Bank’s 2025 annual report, Schimmelpfennig stated that he was in the country to discuss with the minister the operation of the Nigerian budgeting process, with a focus on the concurrent implementation of the 2023/2024 budgets and supplemental budgets in the same year.
Schimmelpfennig applauded the federal government’s tax revisions because he believed that additional revenue would allow Nigerians to advance.
Nigerians are concerned about the country’s growing public debt, which stands at N134.3 trillion at the moment.
