Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye has revealed that former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration lavished the initial $100 million of a $500 million World Bank loan for women empowerment on meetings.
Ohanenye made this revelation in an interview with Arise Television on Monday.
According to the minister, Buhari’s government “lavished” the $100 million on meetings, advocacy and consultancy.
Recall that the World Bank on June 27, 2023 approved a fresh $500 million loan for Nigeria to help improve the livelihood of women in Nigeria.
Ohanenye commended President Bola Tinubu for his proactive involvement in the project, particularly his scrutiny of the initial $100 million expenditure.
The minister noted that the funds were a loan, not a grant, and stressed the importance of proper management to ensure repayment.
She said, “About the Nigeria for Women Project, let me first tell Nigerian women to clap for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who came in after the first $100 million had been expended.
“That was when he came in and when he came in, he looked at it with me and we were not satisfied with how the $100 million was used.
“Let me make it clear. This is not a grant, it is a loan and when some monies are loans, they must have to be managed well so that the loans can be paid back. If you don’t manage it well, how do we pay back the loan?
“And when money is a loan, we expect whoever you are giving loan to be allowed to utilise that loan properly in a way that it can yield back the money to be paid, so that Nigeria will not continue owing.
“The first 100 million, when I came in, I was not satisfied. It didn’t augur well with the vision of the new President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“It was mainly used for advocacy, meetings, consultancies and that was it. They shared it among the states.”
Salient Times report that the Project is a strategic engagement between the World Bank and the Nigerian Government set to improve the livelihood of Nigerian women.
A statement from the bank said the loan is a scale-up financing for the women’s project, which was initially approved on June 27, 2018, with $100m financing.
It stated that the loan will help to ensure better economic opportunities for women, which is essential for addressing gender inequality; guaranteeing better education, health, and nutrition outcomes for families; and building women’s and communities’ resilience to climate change.
