$1.57 billion loan from World Bank approved for Nigeria

The World Bank has approved a $1.57 billion financing package for Nigeria under a new programme to support its health and education sectors and help provide sustainable power, the bank said on Monday.

The World Bank is the largest lender to Nigeria, with more than $15 billion in loans at the end of March, data from the Debt Management Office showed.

The bank said in a statement that the money would help increase the availability and effectiveness of financing for basic education and primary healthcare service delivery.

"The new financing includes $500 million for addressing governance issues that constrain the delivery of education and health, $570 million for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Programme, and $500 million for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project," the bank said.

Nigeria is among countries with the highest number of out-of-school children, mainly due to insecurity, especially in the north of the country, where a long-running insurgency and armed kidnapping gangs have caused havoc.

Climate change

The World Bank said part of the money would be used to improve dam safety to protect people from floods.

Nigeria faces frequent flooding, and this year up to a million people were affected after a dam in northeastern Borno State burst.

More floods are expected in Nigeria after authorities in Cameroon started releasing water from a large dam to prevent it from overflowing.

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