FG Requests $500 Million World Bank Loan

FG Requests $500 Million World Bank Loan For Agriculture And Rural Roads

The World Bank is reportedly the source of a $500 million loan that the Federal Government is requesting for agricultural marketing and rural road maintenance.

Included in the final draft of the Resettlement Policy Framework for the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Nigeria Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project Scale-UP, the fund aims

to improve connectivity for the country’s 92 million rural residents, who currently lack access to decent roads.

According to the policy document, Nigeria has a reasonably large road network, with about 194,000 kilometers of roadways. This comprises 130,000 km of registered rural roads, 30,000 km of state roads,

and 34,000 km of federal roads. Approximately 0.21 kilometers of roadways per square kilometer is the road density.

“In spite of this comparatively high road density, Nigeria’s rural accessibility index—which measures the percentage of the rural population living within two kilometers of an all-weather road—stands at a pitiful

25.5%, meaning that around 92 million rural residents lack connectivity.

“Access to rural areas is especially limited in areas where the economically disadvantaged are heavily concentrated.” These elements emphasize how important it is to preserve rural road and transportation

resources while also growing and improving the network of rural roads.

Enhancing rural access and climate resilience is the goal of the RAAMP-SU project, which will increase agricultural potential and agrarian

communities’ selling opportunities. This will therefore help the people living in rural areas to have better quality of life.

The goals of the project are to fortify the institutional and financial underpinnings for the sustainable management of

both state and rural road networks, as well as to improve rural access and climate resilience of communities in served rural areas.

The former Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, funded by the World Bank and the French Development Agency, was expanded upon by the RAAMP-SU program.

Under the direction of the Federal Project Management Unit, the Federal Department of Rural Development of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is in charge of the project.

The RAAMP-SU project is planned to cost $600 million in total, of which 83.33% is expected to come from money provided by the World Bank.

The commitment amount for the parent project is 79% more than the $280 million that the World Bank initially committed to fund.

The Improvement of Resilient Rural Access ($387 million), Climate Resilient Asset Management ($158 million), and Institutional Strengthening and Project Management ($55 million) are the three main

components of the project that will be financed.

States that are ready to take part in the initiative must have a fully operational Roads Fund and Roads Agency,

complete with appointed boards and employees, as well as budgetary provisions in place for administrative expenses.

“The new project would require the States to have a fully functional Roads Fund and Roads Agency with appointed boards and staff, and provision for administrative costs made in the state budget,” the

document continued. “While the eligibility for state participation under RAAMP required the drafting and placement of Road Fund and

Roads Agency bills in the State house of assemblies.” Furthermore, RARAs present a chance to support women’s representation in the transportation industry.

“The funds from the RAAMP-SU will be distributed among the states in a competitive manner, taking into account a refined socioeconomic selection matrix to enhance rural access to basic services and foster

food security; the readiness of the activities in terms of design; and the state’s demonstrated commitment to the efficient

maintenance of the projected infrastructure, including possible co-financing from their resources.”

According to the policy framework, project operations that result in resettlement must first develop plans for compensation and resettlement.