A high-level delegation from the World Bank, led by Ousmane Diagana, Vice President for Western and Central Africa, met with the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to reaffirm support for President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform agenda and development priorities.
Diagana praised Nigeria’s recent GDP growth of 3.4% — the strongest since 2014 — and commended the government’s progress in stabilising the economy and improving portfolio performance. He stressed the need to maintain reform momentum to achieve inclusive, job-creating growth, and highlighted Nigeria’s position as the World Bank’s largest portfolio in Africa, with commitments totalling around $17 billion.
He also welcomed Nigeria’s leadership on the M300 initiative — a pan-African drive to expand energy access to 300 million people — and urged faster implementation of social protection measures, particularly targeted cash transfers, following recent discussions with World Bank President Ajay Banga.
The CME reiterated the government’s focus on three key areas: improving project delivery speed, scaling up biometric verification for 15 million individuals on the national social register, and accelerating implementation of the M300 compact. He announced the establishment of a Compact Delivery and Monitoring Unit and requested a status update to ensure the nation stays on track to set new records in project approval and execution.
Key areas of collaboration also include increased agricultural productivity, improved access to finance for SMEs, enhanced digital transformation, and broader financial inclusion.
