Federal Government in Talks With World Bank for $1.5bn Fresh Loan

The Federal Government is in talks with the World Bank to complete the processes of obtaining over $1 billion loan to address the challenges facing Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs and their host communities, as well as bolster rural access and agricultural marketing in the country.

The request is contained in a recent World Bank document titled, ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project’ and ‘Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project – Scale Up.’

Accordingly, while the IDPs’ loan is put at $500m, the rural access and agricultural marketing project loan is estimated at $550m.

The fund is expected to provide help to communities in Nigeria badly affected by insecurity.

This is primarily due to the ongoing conflict involving Boko Haram, as well as other factors such as banditry and conflicts between farmers and herders, leading to the displacement of over 3.5 million people