“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”
President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim on Thursday at a conference in Washington DC, United States revealed President Buhari’s appeal to the group to focus their assistance to the north. But in further explanation, Jim Yong Kim expressed his concerns over the President Buhari’s requests and strongly advises against it sating from experience that it has not been easy to work at the northern part of the country and it does not answer the need of a rapid economic growth the country presently yarns for. “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.” Kim said.
The World Bank Group President advice that Nigeria focus its energy on developing drives on what can promote and increase the economy of the country because it is urgently needed “Focusing on the northern part of Nigeria, we hope that as commodity prices stabilize 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.”
