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afrol News, 9 June - The World Bank on Thursday approved two new credits to reduce poverty in Nigeria, totalling US$ 237 million. The credits will finance a health systems development project and a community based urban development project. The health project aims "to address the serious deterioration in the delivery of basic health care services following decades of neglect," according to the World Bank's project description. "At the same time, a concerted effort would be made to build institutional capacities, paving the way for a more sustained development of the Nigerian health care system" and for further assistance from financial institutions. Maternal and child health and reproductive services were to get particular focus. Meanwhile, the urban development project aims at delivering "basic municipal services in poor urban settlements." To achieve this, the project first needed to "establish partnerships between communities and their local governments" - contact often being non-existent - to ensure a joint development of these services. Urban poverty and the related unregulated settlements have experienced a sharp rise. According to a statement by the Nigerian office of the World Bank, the increasing poverty in the country would be addressed particularly by the Bank. "Although the steep rise in households living below the poverty line from 27 percent in 1980 to 66 percent in 1996 tends to affect the rural people more, the incidence of poverty in towns and cities has climbed from 17 percent to about 58 percent," the statement says. Despite the country's large reserves of human and natural resources and relative oil wealth, poverty is widespread and Nigeria's basic social indicators place it among the 20 poorest countries in the world. GNP per capita, at about US$ 260 today is below the level at independence 40 years ago and below the US$ 370 that it obtained in 1985. The Bank's statements further noted the government's low spending on the health sector. While the World Health Organization recommends a US$ 34 spending per capita for low-income countries, public spending on health in Nigeria was less than US$ 5 and as low as US$ 2 in some parts of the country. The health project was to address this situation, the Bank said. While the present government of President Olusegun Obasanjo has acknowledged the widespread poverty and has embraced the need to adopt policies to reduce it, the reasons behind today's regrettable situation are to be found in the decades of corruption and military mismanagement before Obasanjo. A succession of military governments has controlled the country for 28 of its 42 years of independence. Sources: Based on Wolrd Bank and afrol archives
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