Is President Olusegun Obasanjo's proposed National Dialogue the way forward for Nigeria?
Tinubu Advocates Fresh World Bank Anti-HIV/AIDS Strategy
By Shaka Momodu, 12.15.2004
Lagos
Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu, has called for a review of the World Bank strategy for fighting HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. He said funding for the programme should go directly to the states which can take effective action against the disease. Tinubu made this appeal at the Gate Way Hotel, Ijebu-ode, where the World Bank Country Assistance meeting took place with the Governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, Dr. Bukola Saraki (Kwara) and Ayo Fayose, Ekiti State Governor. While decrying the situation whereby World Bank funding for HIV/AIDS is tied up at the federal level, Tinubu said �the HIV/AIDS problem in Nigeria is a disaster waiting to happen. The World Bank fund must be freed from the cumbersome federal bureaucracy and given directly to the states if the war against the pandemic must be won�. Tinubu equally advocated a critical review by the World Bank of the complex procedures for implementing its projects and policies to make them simpler for speedier realisation of stipulated objectives. The governor said �the World Bank should also encourage competition among the states by using performance of the states in previous Bank assisted programmes as criteria for further assistance on other projects�. The Governor commended the partnership between the World Bank and Lagos State in diverse areas pointing out that this had yielded positive results including comprehensive computerisation of the public service, strengthening internal control mechanisms. Tinubu also expressed the readiness of Lagos State to partner with Ogun State for joint ventures in transportation and infrastructure development to transform the corridor between the two states and improve the lives of their people. Declaring the interactive session open, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, said the attendance of four governors is an indication of the importance of the World Bank to national development. He charged the World Bank to focus especially on the creation of jobs for the teeming number of unemployed in the country saying that joblessness worsens the problem of insecurity and is a disincentive to foreign investment.
Axiom PSI Yam Festival Series, Iri Ji Nd'Igbo the Kola-Nut Series,Nigeria Masterweb
Norimatsu| Nigeria Forum |
Biafra | Biafra
Nigeria | BLM | Hausa Forum
| Biafra
Web | Voice of
Biafra | Okonko Research and Igbology| | Igbo World | BNW | MASSOB | Igbo
Net | bentech | IGBO FORUM
| HAUSANET (AWUSANET) | AREWA FORUM
| YORUBANET | YORUBA FORUM
| New Nigeriaworld | WIC:World Igbo Congress
