IDB supports Jonathan’s transformation agenda with N30bn

[MrVan]

BY FAVOUR NNABUGWU

THE Islamic Development Bank, IDB, has supported President Goodluck Jonathan's transformational agenda with N310 billion ($2 billion). The fund integrates a three-year work programme of the bank which aligns with the country till 2014. Vice President, Arch Namadi Sambo revealed this in Khartoum, Sudan, yesterday.

Thanking the IDB President, Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali, for the support, Sambo explained that the transformation agenda itself was anchored on five pillars, 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.

He noted that significant private sector participation and financial support from development partners were critical, especially in the country's Priority Action Plan, as a result of  peculiarities of the problems associated with developing countries.

Vice President Sambo observed that on the political and social fronts, the African continent was still evolving and reeling from some complex and multi-dimensional challenges, especially how to eradicate poverty and provide decent and better lives and opportunities for the teeming population across the continent.

He said:  "It is on record that Africa is the only region in the world that is off-track in achieving most of the targets set in the Millennium Development Goals, particularly in the areas of the mainstream inclusive growth, provision of basic services (infrastructure, water, sanitation, education and hospitals) and reversion of the spread of diseases, tackling of poverty, job creation and security.

"African countries cannot do all these things alone; they need help and assistance from development partners. The prospect of this veritable source of support is fast becoming less reliable, no thanks to the failure so far, to comprehensively resolve the high incidence of debts and deficits in Japan, United State of America and some European Union member countries.

"The unpalatable fallout of this sudden shock is the declining flow of grants and Foreign Direct Investments to the continent of Africa, stating that African countries were left no option than to 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."

He, however, challenged the IDB, African Development Bank, ADB, and other multilateral development agencies to be more creative in their interventions towards ensuring that the continent was put back on track to achieving the MDGs.

He noted that Nigeria was in the second year of its Medium Term (2011-2015) Development Strategy (MTDs), while stressing that the MTDs spelled out the key milestones of the transformation agenda which, he said, drew inspiration from vision 20:2020.

Vanguard Nigeria