Islamic Development Bank Grants Nigeria $1.96 Bln

The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has allocated N310 billion (=US$ 1.96 Bln) to contribute in the executing Nigeria’s transformation agenda for a two- year period, between 2012 and 2014.

The agenda is including accelerating and sustaining economic growth, improving and modernizing infrastructure, strengthening human capital stock and enhancing access to social services, improving governance and increasing competitiveness, reinforcing social cohesion and main-streaming cross cutting issues, said Nigerian Vice President Namadi Sambo during a meeting of African Governors’ Forum on the Special Programme for the Development of Africa (SPDA) yesterday in Khartoum, the Sudan.

SPDA is an initiative of IDB for the acceleration of development objectives in African member countries.

According to the vice president, the problems of developing countries and the efforts to address them, particularly in Africa, will come through significant private sector participation and financial support from development partners were critical, especially in the Priority Action Plan, All Africa reported.

Sambo added that “African countries shall embark on far-reaching economic transformation policies designed to promote private sector-driven growth, strengthen regional integration, facilitate cross-border trade and harness economies of scale.”