NIGERIA seeks $500 Million World Bank Loan.

The Nigerian government is in negotiations with the The World Bank for a $500 million loan to enhance basic education.

The HOPE project aims to improve learning outcomes and address the issue of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

The total cost of the operation is estimated at $554 million, with $500 million from the World Bank and $54 million from a Global Partnership for Education grant.

The loan, expected to be approved by March 2025, aligns with Nigeria's Universal Basic Education framework and focuses on expanding access to early childhood, primary, and junior secondary education.

Some key components of the project are improving teaching quality, supporting community-based schools, and providing grants to improve school management and infrastructure.

The initiative seeks to enhance foundational literacy and numeracy skills and unite data systems to monitor progress better.

This loan is part of Nigeria's broader 𝙷𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝙲𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙳𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 strategy, which seeks to build an educated and productive workforce by 2030.

It complements existing programs like the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, which aims to reduce financial barriers for parents and encourage school attendance.

The HOPE-Education project is the final component of a three-part initiative, following the recently approved HOPE-Governance and HOPE-Primary Health Care projects.

𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗨𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝘀 $𝟮 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced a $2 billion investment to deploy a 90,000-kilometer fibre optic project aimed at expanding the country's fibre optic cable capacity from 35,000 kilometers to 125,000 kilometers.

Details of the project were revealed by Minister of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy, Dr. ‘Bosun Tijani, during a facility tour of the vandalized Digital Innovation Park in Kano.

This investment will enable connectivity between communities, he added, supporting the success of schools, hospitals, government offices and businesses in a digitally connected environment.

The ministry is working with the Kano State Government via the National Broadband Alliance to help simplify the investment process for private infrastructure companies supporting Kano's digital economy.

The government’s Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program seeks to train three million Nigerians with digital and technical skills to meet the ever increasing need for skilled digital professionals.

The program currently has over 300 young people from Kano, the most since the program commenced.

The African Development Bank has pledged $200 million, with additional support expected from the World Bank, the African Export and Import Bank, and the United States Export and Import Bank.