BUHARI ASKED US TO CONCENTRATE ON NORTHERN NIGERIA – WORLD BANK
BUHARI ASKED US TO CONCENTRATE ON NORTHERN NIGERIA – WORLD
BANK
The President of the World Bank
Group, Jim Yong Kim, on Thursday said President Muhammadu Buhari asked the body
to concentrate on the Northern part of Nigeria.
The President made the disclosure
while speaking at a conference in Washington DC, United States, US.
Kim also advised Buhari to invest in
things that would enhance Nigeria’s economic growth.
Kim said, “You know, in my very first
meeting with President Buhari, he said specifically that he would like us to
shift our focus to the northern region of Nigeria and we’ve done that. Now, it
has been very difficult. The work there has been very difficult.
“I think Nigeria, of course, has
suffered from the dropping oil prices. I think things are just now getting
better.
“But the conversation we need to have
with Nigeria, I think, is in many ways related to the theme that I brought to
the table just this past week, which is investment in human capital. The
percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that Nigeria spends on healthcare is
less than one percent.
“Despite that, there is so much
turbulence in the northern part of the country, and there is the hit that was
taken from the drop in the oil prices.
“Nigeria has to think ahead and
invest in its people. Investing in the things that will allow Nigeria to be a
thriving, rapidly growing economy in the future is what the country has to
focus on right now.
“Focusing on the northern part of
Nigeria, we hope that as commodity prices stabilise and oil prices come back
up, the economy will grow a bit more. But very, very much important is the need
to focus on what the drivers of growth in the future will be.”
