Ogun State has been considered among other states in Nigeria to benefit from a $900m intervention fund on ecological challenges, as the World Bank has promised to assist the State in the areas of good governance and socio-economic development.
The Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, made this known in Abuja during a meeting with a team of country representatives of the World Bank, saying the assistance was a timely succour to the affected families and towns across the Gateway State.
Prince Abiodun, intimated that the bank was currently partnering with the State on a number of initiatives like, the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project (OGSTEP), aimed at providing an institutional and logistic framework for a private-public partnership engagement and in the areas of rural road construction and agricultural development.
He further itemised other programmes which the World Bank had keyed into including, Community and Social Development Programme, Saving One Million Lives Programme, Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability Programme, Rural Access and Mobility Programme, Nigeria for Women, as well as Private Public Partnership (PPP).
According to the Governor, these are critical projects which would enhance the welfare of the citizenry and also contribute immensely to a focussed and qualitative governance agenda of his administration.
He emphasised that he had outlined a number of bills to be sent to the State Assembly for approval, adding that it would give necessary legal backing to the proposed programmes, thereby bringing the dividends of democracy to the people of the State.
Governor Abiodun further added that, his administration was reviewing the public procurement laws, to ensure transparency and accountability was maintained, promising to restructure the accounting processes, such that over 800 accounts inherited by his government were streamlined for Principal Officers to access ‘’a dashboard of incomes and expenditures."
The World Bank Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud, commended the Dapo Abiodun administration’s foresight in requesting for the loan, urging government to reinvigorate Ministry of Health and the Primary Healthcare Development Agency in order to improve the healthcare delivery in the State.
In a related development, a press statement, issued by Chief Press Secretary to the State Governor, Mr. Kunle Somorin, stated that the Ogun State Government had also received succour for the flood that ravaged some parts of Abeokuta, Ijebu Ode and other towns across Ogun West, from the World Bank.
According to Somorin, the World Bank Country Director, Rachid Benmessaoud said the global financial institution, decided to assist the flood victims, as enunciated by the Governor, who requested for the bank's assistance.
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