Announcing the latest loan in a statement, the World Bank said: “The World Bank has approved $500 million for Nigeria for Women Program Scale Up (NFWP-SU). The scale-up financing will further support the government of Nigeria to invest in improving the livelihoods of women in Nigeria.”
It added: “The NFWP-SU will help to ensure better economic opportunities for women which is essential for addressing gender inequality; guaranteeing better education, health, and nutrition outcomes for families; and building women’s and communities’ resilience to climate change.”
The multilateral institution noted that women’s empowerment is essential to their ability to build resilience to climate change and, by extension, the resilience of their households and communities.
According to the World Bank, by building assets, women can better respond to family needs and mitigate risks and the effects of climate and other shocks on livelihoods, adding that gender disparities in earnings hold back the Nigerian economy.
The statement quoted Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, as saying: “We have seen promising outcomes from the parent NFWP which has helped to create economic opportunities for thousands of rural women through the Women Affinity Groups. NFWP’s model is helping to improve livelihood opportunities for women and enhancing their capacity to adapt to climate change and participating in local administrations for policymaking related to community empowerment.”
He added: “Closing the gender gap in key economic sectors could yield gains of between $9.3 billion and $22.9 billion, we are optimistic that this scale-up will help Nigeria to move closer to bridging this gap.”
Task Team Leader for Nigeria for Women Project, Michael Ilesanmi commented: “The Program aims to mobilize poor and vulnerable women into different institutions and, using these institutional platforms, link them to markets as well as financial and non-financial services. Through participation in Women Affinity Groups, project beneficiaries build social capital that can then be leveraged to access financial, political, and economic capital–thus leading to both social and economic empowerment.”
The WBG further noted that the NFWP has been implemented in six states and provides support to over 427,887 WAG members through the formation and strengthening of 20,506 of these groups.
It added that in about two years, these WAGs have saved about NGN 4 billion ($8.9 million equivalent) with a significant percentage of these funds in circulation as loans at any given time. So far, 835,573 community members have benefited from the NFWP through different interventions.
$800m Loan To Nigeria Was Approved December 2021 – World Bank
Meanwhile, the WBG has clarified that it approved the $800million loan for Nigeria in December 2021, when the government of Muhammadu Buhari contemplated the removal of fuel subsidy.
Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, disclosed this on Tuesday at an event organised by the WBG to assess the nation’s economy in the last six months.
Chaudhuri explained that the fund was a loan and not a grant as speculated.
Chaudhuri said that the funds would be channelled into ameliorating the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable owing to the removal of the fuel subsidy.
The loan was delayed as the former President soft-pedaled on the fuel subsidy removal until his last days in office.
However, in the twilight of his administration, Buhari had sent a letter to the Nigeria Senate seeking approval to take a loan to the tune of $800 million from the World Bank to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.
Zainab Ahmed, the former Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, had said that the disbursement of the fund was in light of the planned subsidy removal in June 2023.
President Bola Tinubu had shortly after his inauguration on May 29, declared an end to petrol subsidy.
Sequel to the President Tinubu’s declaration, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, promptly released its price adjustment for petrol.
Chaudhuri also expressed support for Nigeria Government’s subsidy removal and foreign exchange rate unification, pointing out that although the policy is painful, it remains the key to rebuilding the economy of Nigeria.