From Uche Usim, Abuja
The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), is considering making Nigeria its African operations hub by converting its already existing office in Abuja into a key regional base.
The 43-year-old bank said the move was in tandem with its expansion programme.
Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this in Abuja yesterday said the Abuja office of the bank would coordinate its operations in West and Central African member-countries, which constituted a majority of the 27 African nations in the region.
She said: “The Abuja gateway office will serve Nigeria, Gabon, Niger, Mozambique, Barkina Faso, the Republic of Cameroon, Uganda, Senegal, Djibouti, Guinea Bisaau, among others.”
The move, she said, was a part of a five-year reform package unfolded by the president of the bank, Dr. Bandar Mohammed Hajjar, at the 42nd meeting of the bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Tuesday night.
“He said that decentralization by opening of regional offices would take the bank closer to member countries to enhance communication, improve its operational efficiency and performance.
“We have completed an extensive study of decentralisation that included field visits to some development institutions that applied this approach to maximize benefits and avoid draw-backs. Greater powers would be devolved on regional offices to support them with specialized staff and the transfer there of many operations from the main centre.
“Hajjar said while financing infrastructure projects (energy, water, universities, ports and airports) is part of the new focus of the Bank, the reform would vigorously “seek new partners and transform competitors into development partners by harnessing strength and comparative advantages of the bank,” she quoted the bank as saying.
The bank took off in 1974 and its main objectives were to finance development projects in various social and economic fields, reduce poverty and ignorance among the 1.7 billion citizens of the 57 member countries of the institution.
Nigeria as an active member of the bank benefitted from its development financing programmes located in various parts of the country.
Only recently, governors of the Northern States and the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. O. Onu, visited its headquarters in Jeddah where they discussed areas in which the bank could intervene in different sectors of social and economic development.