Idris Ahmed
16 September 2008
The African Development Bank's credit portfolio to Nigeria is currently $820.56 million (about N94.9 billion), the Minister of Finance has said.
Dr.Shamsuddeen Usman said this yesterday in Abuja at the opening of the ADB's project Implementation Workshop with the theme 'scaling up poverty reduction through effective project implementation'.
He was represented by Dr. A. Alao, a Director in the Ministry of Finance.
The minister who noted that the ABD' policy in the country is tailored on a Result Based Country Strategy Paper (RBCSP) said the bank is currently assisting Nigeria in 13 on - going projects.
He said: "Currently, there are thirteen (13) on - going public sector projects in the Bank's assisted projects portfolio in Nigeria amounting to UA 391 million (about 609.96 million). A breakdown of the portfolio by sector shows that infrastructure projects make up 38%, followed by the social sector (34%), and the agriculture sector with 28%.
"There are also two private sector lines of credit amounting to UA135 million (about US$210.6 million)."
The minister said even though the performance of ADB assisted project portfolio in Nigeria has improved in the recent months, a lot is still needed to achieve the desire performance. The minister said the bank's disbursement ratio has risen from below 20% to 38% and "we hope that this achievement will be sustained or even surpassed as the years go by."
The ADB's RBCSP is formulated in line with the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy (NEEDS) and the seven -point agenda of the government and is anchored on two pillars such:
Developing human resources through intervention in the educational and health sectors and stimulating non-oil growth through enhanced infrastructure, agriculture and rural development.
The ADB's Resident Representative, Nigeria Field Office, Mr. Herve Assah said the project implantation workshop is the bank's reaction to the recommendations given in the recent Country Portfolio Improvement Plan (CPIP).
He said the rating of the country in the 2004 Country Portfolio Performance Review (CPPR) was satisfactory and the result of the 2008 is expected to be similar.
"However, the average implementation progress, procurement performance, financial performance and activities/outputs were rated less than satisfactory, whereas the development objectives were rated more than satisfactory", Assah said.
He listed several constraints impeding smooth project implementation such as timely release of counterpart funding, slow fulfilment of loan effectiveness conditions and compliance with procurement, disbursement and financial reporting.
Other impediments listed are proper project design and project quality, regular monitoring and evaluation and strengthening of institutional coordination between Federal Government, States and line ministries.
Areas where future operations of project implementation could be improved according to the bank involve minimising the number of prior conditions for effectiveness and first disbursement in order to ensure project readiness after loan approval and signature.
"Due attention needs to be given to capacity assessment at the project design/preparation stage, especially in critical areas such as procurement and staff training in project management as well as on Bank rules and procedures", Assah said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
