The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mr Rachid Benmessaoud, said the bank’s combined investment in the South West region of the country was about N305.2 billion (1 billion dollars).
Rachid, in a statement on Wednesday by the Senior Communications Officer, Nigeria, Mrs Olufunke Olufon, said the investments were in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and governments of the South West states.
He said the investments in Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states, comprised active projects in social protection, rural development, agriculture, education, health, water, transport and infrastructure.
“The World Bank extended its support to the states in setting up such state-level coordination mechanism, in order to ensure that current processes are working well and the funds are utilised effectively.
“Delivering quick and meaningful results to the project beneficiaries require the states to work collectively to resolve implementation challenges in a timely manner and communicate results to the public,” he said.
Rachid said the bank had carried out a State Portfolio Performance Review Meeting of World Bank-financed projects in the South-West states.
He said the review meeting assessed project performance and results of 11 projects across the 6 South-West states, noting implementation progress to date and focused on specific issues affecting performance.
Rachid said that at the meeting, project implementation challenges were discussed, and state-by-state measures agreed to streamline processes and improve performance and effectiveness. (NAN)