Nigeria gets $293m from the World Bank, DFID finance to create jobs

The Nigerian government has secured over $293 million funding support from the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID). Mr. Abdulkadir Musa, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, said the fund was to create 460,000 jobs across eight sectors of the economy under the Growth and Employment (GEM) project over the next six years (2013-2018).

Musa told the GEM Entertainment Cluster workshop in Lagos that the DFID provided $120 million Euros as grant and the World Bank gave $173 million as concessionary loans for the implementation of the project in Nigeria.

He said that the project, which has started running since June last year and would expire in September 2018, was aimed at job creation and increased non-oil growth in specific high-potential value chain sectors.

According to him, the project has identified eight sectors based on their growth and employment potential and they are: Entertainment industry, ICT, hospitality and tourism; meat and leather, light manufacturing and agro processing; construction/real estate as well as whole sale and retail sector.

In his remarks, Andrew Gatside, Senior Private Sector Development Adviser of the World Bank, urged the operators in the targeted key sectors to tap into the project in order to benefit their businesses.
GEM is an employment project formulated by the ministry and supported by the World Bank and the DFID.