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Buhari instructed us to focus on Northern Nigeria – World bank

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Buhari promises to lead Nigeria into prosperity

-World bank president, Jim Yong Kim reveals President Buhari ordered them to focus on the northern region of the country.

-The world bank leader also advised the country to focus on economic investments that can guarantee the nation’s future.

The World Bank on Thursday, disclosed that it had concentrated developmental efforts in the northern region of the country in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive.

Speaking at a press conference in Washington DC, United States, President of the World Bank Group, Jim Yong Kim, also advised President Buhari to invest in things that would boost the nation’s economic growth.

Kim said, “You know, in my very first meeting with President Buhari he said specifically that he would like us to shift our focus to the northern region of Nigeria and we’ve done that. Now, it has been very difficult. The work there has been very difficult.

“I think Nigeria, of course, has suffered from the dropping oil prices. I think things are just now getting better. But the conversation we need to have with Nigeria, I think, is in many ways related to the theme that I brought to the table just this past week, which is investment in human capital. The percentage of the Gross Domestic Product that Nigeria spends on healthcare is less than one percent.”

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The World bank president also advised Nigeria to diversify its economy so as to reduce over dependence on oil and save the country’s future.

He added, “Despite that, there is so much turbulence in the northern part of the country, and there is the hit that was taken from the drop in the oil prices. Nigeria has to think ahead and invest in its people. Investing in the things that will allow Nigeria to be a thriving, rapidly growing economy in the future is what the country has to focus on right now.”

Kim also said, “Focusing on the northern part of Nigeria, we hope that as commodity prices stabilise and oil prices come back up, the economy will grow a bit more. But very, very much important is the need to focus on what the drivers of growth in the future will be.”