Nigeria has secured a fresh $750 million loan from the World Bank, meant to help the country actualize its Nigeria State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme-for-Results.

This was disclosed through a statement by the Washington-based lender titled? “Improving the Business Enabling Environment in Nigeria to Create Jobs and Boost Inclusive Growth.”

The loan, which is in the form of an International Development Association (IDA) credit, is consistent with Nigeria’s National Development Plan (NDP), which establishes an ambitious strategy for sustainable private-sector-led economic growth targeted at creating 21 million full-time jobs and raising 35 million people out of poverty by 2025.

The statement said the loan will help Nigeria accelerate the implementation of critical actions that will improve the business-enabling environment in states.

“The World Bank today approved the Nigeria State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Program-for-Results. The $750 million International Development Association (IDA) credit will help Nigeria accelerate the implementation of critical actions that will improve the business enabling environment in states.

“Nigeria has made headway in pushing changes to remove barriers in the business climate, particularly through efforts spearheaded by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC),” it said.

But the bank warned that, in comparison to its counterparts, Nigeria’s ability to attract local and foreign investment remains limited. It said Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are capable of catalyzing private investment, although their efforts and capacity to do so differ greatly.

“Given the importance of state-level reforms, the government developed a new program—SABER—to accelerate the implementation of critical actions that improve the business enabling environment in Nigeria’s states.

“The government’s SABER program builds on the successes of PEBEC. It aims to strengthen the existing PEBEC-National Economic Council subnational interventions by adding incentives, namely results-based financing to the states, and the delivery of wholesale technical assistance–available to all states–to support gaps in reform implementation,” the bank added.

In principle, the World Bank explained that all states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are eligible for participation in the SABER program due to their capacity to implement significant reforms in areas such as land administration, public-private partnerships (PPP), frameworks and services for investment promotion, and the regulatory environment that supports business.

“Following the significant progress made by states on fiscal reforms through the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability (SFTAS) program, the SABER program endeavors to offer similar support to the states to undertake critical business-enabling policy and institutional actions that will incentivize private sector development.

“Private sector investments remain the major vehicle to create more jobs, increase revenues to the states and improve social and economic outcomes for citizens,” Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria said.

SABER is designed, among other things, to assist states in enhancing the effectiveness of their land administration, the legal framework for private investment in fiber optic infrastructure, the services offered by investment promotion organizations and PPP units, and the effectiveness and transparency of their government-to-business interactions.

“Overall, the SABER program looks to consolidate and deepen business enabling environment reforms across more states,” said Bertine Kamphuis, task team leader for SABER. “The use of the Program-for-Results model, which ensures disbursement of funds after achieving results, helps the government in strengthening its own program by incentivizing institutional performance at the state level through results-based financing. States will be responsible for achieving the program results and thus will be leading the implementation of the program.”

However, the loan has come at a time when concern about Nigeria’s public debt is on the rise. Nigeria’s public debt has risen to N42.84 trillion as at June, according to data published by the Debt Management Office.

The concern has been that, amidst dwindling revenue, Nigeria will be spending more than 100% of its revenue soon on debt servicing.

I have been following the writing and speeches of Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the 94-year old leader of Afenifere, a pan-Yoruba cultural organization. As you read him, you see consistency, philosophical fairness, equity and justice. He does not twist things because it would favour the other side of the aisle; I admire his leadership. Take time to read his work, you will see a huge ideological gap between our modern “leaders” and those of Chief Adebanjo’s generation.

His commentary on rotational presidency is right on the money. Everything in Nigeria is based on quota, from university admissions to public sector jobs. Using the system, Nigeria builds fairness to bring everyone together and everyone accepts that constant. And if that is the case, the presidency should also be rotated as that is the quota system for politics.

But where Nigeria cannot adhere to rotational presidency, we must disband the federal character commission (the bureaucracy which manages our quota system) and follow MERIT in every aspect of our system!

Chief Adebanjo is thoughtful, fair and speaks with the wisdom of someone who does not need anything from anybody. I support his thesis. Do not remind me that he may be supporting Peter Obi. Remind me how he has supported others like Jonathan, etc to create balance in Nigeria.  #leader

Leader of the pan Yoruba socio-political organization, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, on Monday, restated the organisation’s position to support the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi saying “he is the man we trust to restructure the country back to federalism on the assumption of office in 2023.”

He said Afenifere’s decision to support Peter Obi was because power is yet to shift to the South East.

Adebanjo, who addressed newsmen in Lagos, said Afenifere will not compromise its principle of equity, justice and inclusiveness because “one of our own, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a frontline candidate.”

Rotate the presidency or abolish all aspects of the quota system; yes, comparative advantages must not be selective.

Comment on Feed

Comment: Rotation has always been a bad idea.

My Response: I agree provided you do not rotate other things! If PDP had to jettison its constitution to avoid rotation, “bad idea” means nothing when you have a crazy universe!

Comment 2: This’ what true leadership is about: Equity and Fairness. These virtues must be strange to the current crop of political office holders in Nigeria; they’re only motivated by selfishness and greed. They’ll shift the goal post just to suit their selfish political needs not minding the ripple effects of such on the polity.

Comment 3: Rotation is not the solution to Nigeria’s problem.The solution is true federalism or confederalism.
Rotation will only promote tribalism and sectional agenda.
Pa Ayo Adebanjo is a good man today I hope he will still be a good man tomorrow when positions are no longer aligned.

My Response: He has advocated for fiscal federalism. But since that has not happened, he is doing the best he can. Check how he endorsed Jonathan many years ago. But also check how he fought for SW to own the presidency in 1999. Whether he does good next year or not, I am happy for his records in the last 94 years. No single man or woman can fix Nigeria alone. But the path of getting all Nigerians to fix Nigeria will come via fairness and equity. That is what Chief is saying.

Update: due to IP related issues, this event will not be webcasted as already promised. Only members of Tekedia Capital syndicate will have access to our exclusive Board. We apologize to our learners. To join Tekedia Capital Syndicate, go here.

Greetings! As part of our efforts to educate and inform on different domains of market system and business, Tekedia Institute is partnering with its sister organization, Tekedia Capital, to webcast  Tekedia Capital Demo Day, scheduled for Oct 8 at 4-6.30pm WAT.  The goal is to expose our current learners to how entrepreneurs and businesses  pitch, the questions investors ask them, and broadly what happens for investors to fund companies. 

• Date: Saturday, Oct 8, 2022
• Time: 4pm WAT 
• Event: Tekedia Capital Demo Day
• Login access: use your active Tekedia Institute  program email and access the webcast here 

Meanwhile, we will close registration for Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 9 (Sept 12 – Dec 3, 2022) on Oct 8, 2022. If you plan to join this edition, that would the last date to join.

Tekedia Capital offers a specialty investment vehicle (or investment syndicate) which makes it possible for citizens, groups and organizations to co-invest in innovative startups and young companies in Africa and arond the world. Capital from these investing entities are pooled together and then invested in a specific company or companies. 

We invest in mainly technology-anchored companies and are sector-agnostic which means those companies could be operating in any industry, including finance, real estate, education, health, logistics, etc. The opportunity is open for individuals in Africa, Africans in diasporas, global citizens in any place in the world, investment groups and organizations around the world. For more, click here https://capital.tekedia.com/ . 

Good People, you’re all invited to Tekedia Capital Demo Day. We hope to support another class of great startups. Tekedia Capital has incubated startups which ended up joining YCombinator, Techstars, Seedstars, etc besides raising follow-up capital. In this cycle, we have 7 amazing startups.

• Date: Oct 8, 2022
• Time: 4pm – 6pm WAT
• Venue: Zoom (member only)
• Learn more and join our community here 

Tekedia Capital offers a specialty investment vehicle (or investment syndicate) which makes it possible for citizens, groups and organizations to co-invest in innovative startups and young companies in Africa and around the world. Capital from these investing entities are pooled together and then invested in a specific company or companies.

Membership Fee of $1,000 for 4 Investment Cycles

Pay for your 4-cycle membership fee. The fee provides access to 4 investment cycles of Tekedia Capital deal flow. We typically do 2-3 cycles per year (i.e. 12 months). After payment, our team will give you access to the deal flow board.

(If after 4 cycles, you can decide not to renew. Yet, you will continue to receive updates on your prior investments. But we will not provide access to new startup deal flows.)

A payment of $1,000 (or Naira equivalent) is required to join.