World Bank to restructure $200m project in Nigeria

World Bank to restructure $200m project in Nigeria

The World Bank has announced plans to restructure the Innovation Development and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) Project in Nigeria.

The $200 million project has faced challenges in meeting its objectives and will undergo significant changes to improve its effectiveness.

The project was approved on February 18, 2020, to enhance the capacity of the Nigerian skills development system to produce relevant skills for the formal and informal sectors.

It was learnt that out of the $200 million, only about $34.88 million has been released by the World Bank.

Due to the poor performance of the project, the World Bank has not released more funds, which are tied to meeting certain project criteria.

The IDEAS project, which aimed at enhancing skills acquisition in Nigeria, has shown limited progress in several key areas over the past two years.

Component 1 of the project focusing on providing grants to federal and state colleges, was particularly affected, with unsatisfactory ratings due to incomplete workshop renovations and delayed equipment procurement. Component 2 for the training of master crafts persons and apprentices also recorded slow progress.

The report read: “The Mid-Term Review (MTR) mission for the Project took place between October 3-28, 2023. The mission held meetings with the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), the six participating states (Abia, Benue, Edo, Ekiti, Gombe and Kano) and the selected federal and state technical colleges (TCs).

“The mission assessed the reasons for which the project has not performed as envisaged and identified adjustments and changes in project design, implementation arrangements, and resource allocations so that the project could remain relevant, be implemented effectively, and contribute to the country’s goal to produce skilled manpower for the formal and the informal sector.

“The progress towards the project development objectives and overall implementation progress has remained slow for about two years with limited progress on each component.