From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
World Bank has announced a $100 million additional credit to assist the poor and the vulnerable in the North East.
The affected north east states include, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, and Gombe states.
The bank said in a document that the development objective of Youth Employment and Social Support Project for Nigeria is to increase access of the poor to youth employment opportunities, social services, and strengthened safety net systems in participating states.
According to the bank, the proposed additional credit of $100 million would help finance the costs associated with modified and new activities arising from scaling up and restructuring of the current operation in the North East of Nigeria (Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, and Gombe states) with the aim of providing assistance to poor and vulnerable households – including internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The bank noted that the targeted beneficiaries are those able to return or resettle to safe environments – and host communities- for increased consumption and improved livelihoods and human capital.
“In addition to restoring livelihoods, the additional financing (AF)will also be used to provide trauma and psychosocial support to conflict-affected and returnee households, internally displaced groups, and individuals, as a form of social assistance intervention.
The psychosocial support will be provided in addition with other AF operations at different levels”, the bank said in a statement.
In another development, World Bank had made available up to $160 billion over a 15-month period ending June 2021 to help more than 100 countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.
This includes $50 billion of new IDA resources through grants and highly concessional loans and $12 billion for developing countries to finance the purchase and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.