World Bank lends US $75 million to improve education, management

The World Bank approved on Thursday two loans totalling US $75 million and repayable within 35 years after a 10-year grace period to improve basic education and economic management in Nigeria.

Of this, the bank said, US $55 million will go to a project to provide universal basic education for Nigeria’s estimated 19.5 million primary school-aged children, 3.8 million of whom do not attend school. The money will be used to train teachers and school managers in approximately 1,000 schools and help improve physical learning conditions in 1,000 focus schools and 900 self-help schools. It will also be used to improve the availability and quality of instructional materials in schools and of distance learning materials for teachers, create national awareness about HIV/AIDS, and build national capacity to enhance the decision-making process on the attainment of universal basic education. The Nigerian government will put an additional US $6.11 million into the project.

The remaining US $20.0 million will support the government’s effort to strengthen its capacity to manage the economy.