The Jigawa State Governor, Malam Umar Namadi has called on the World Bank to expand its support to the state in the area of digital transformation, digital economy initiatives, poverty eradication and good governance for sustainable development.
The governor made the call while receiving the World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Mr. Shubham Chaudhuri at the Government House, Dutse.
Governor Namadi urged the Country Director to make the visit another turning point for opening new frontiers of collaboration in supporting the state’s ICT & Digital Economy Initiatives for growth and development.
“One of the overarching mission of World Bank is helping society to fight poverty and improve living standards of the people all over the World.
“While the success of the World Bank is legendary in this respect, however, it is very worrisome how poverty rate remains persistent in Nigeria and Jigawa State despite the decades of interventions which were implemented in line with the Bank’s mission of leading the fight against poverty,” the governor said.
Citing a World Bank report, the governor noted that Jigawa is still among states with highest poverty head count or with highest percentage of the population being multi-dimensionally poor which is deeply concerning to the government.
Governor Namadi also lamented the high rate of out-of-school children, perennial flooding and other devastating effects of the climate change which he said required collaboration to tackle.
He then assured of the commitment of his government to collaborate with the World Bank towards the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals and all other intervention projects designed to tackle the identified challenges.
Speaking earlier, the Country Director said his visit together with his team was to hold a technical discussion on to collaborate on economic and human capital development in Jigawa State.