The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has approved the US$ 300 million loan agreement made with the Nigerian government, AfDB indicated in a statement Thursday.
According to the statement, received here by PANA, the loan would be utilized towards financing Nigeria’s transport sector, the Economic Governance Reform Programme and its Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for the period 2013-2017.
”The loan aims to support the Nigerian Government to accelerate reform implementation in the areas of transport sector governance and public expenditure management,” the statement noted.
It said that ”The reform measures include the establishment of a Federal Road Authority, the National Road Maintenance Fund, Road-Tolling Policy, and an Axel Load Control Policy.”
It was further stated that under the areas of Nigeria’s public financial management reform, the programme would involve the adoption of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), Internal Audit Modernization Plan and Treasuring Single Account (TSA), among other things.
”The programme will also create fiscal space for increased investment in road infrastructure development. It is an integral part of a broader set of interventions of the bank designed to support Nigeria’s Transformation Agenda with emphasis to economic governance and infrastructure development,” AfDB highlighted.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Country Strategy Paper is said to have outlined the bank’s engagement and assistance to the West African nation.
The programme will focus on ”two strategic pillars, namely supporting the development of a sound policy environment, and investing in critical infrastructure to promote the development of the real sector of the economy.”
The approval was said to have been made in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on Wednesday
