The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday, May 3, approved $250 million soft loan for the development of the North-East region of Nigerian which
has been ravaged by insurgency. The council approved a soft loan of $150 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and $100 million from African Development Finance (ADF) for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI).
Also a grant of five million Euro was approved to finance an Inclusive Basic Service Delivery and Livelihood Empowerment Integrated Programme in five different states in the region.
NAIJ.com gathered that these approvals took place as President Muhammadu Buhari continues to rest following doctors advice on his health. The approval, NAIJ.com also gathered, succeeded a memo presented to council by the minister of finance Kemi Adeosun.
Adeosun while presenting the memo said the money would help improve the life of 14 million people and over 2.3 million internally displaced persons in the region.
The minister of finance Kemi Adeosun said the money would help improve the life of 14 million people and over 2.3 million internally displaced persons in the region She also said the money will create access availability to basic social services like portable water supply, sanitation, healthcare delivery and education to these people.
Also covered by the programme include, entrepreneurship development, job creation and livelihoods for youth, women and the vulnerable, social cohesion and physiological support. Recall that the federal government had in the past launched a rebuilding and reconstruction programme for peace and development in the region.
The programme, the federal government said, will be implemented in damawa, Borno, Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba states within a period of five years starting from 2017 to December 2021. The loan NAIJ.com gathered will be repayable within 25 years on a highly concessional interest rate while beneficiary states will make a counterpart funding of 6.1 per cent.
