UK Devt Assistance to Nigeria Hits £140m Per Annum
- By Simeon Ogoegbulem
- Published June 21st, 2010
- News
- Unrated
DEVELOPMENT assistance to Nigeria by the United Kingdom has peaked to over £140 million (about N35 billion) in the 2010/11 financial year, BusinessWorld Intelligence can now disclose. Nigeria has, in the last decade, received substantial amount of resources from Overseas Development Assistance (Oda).
UK development priorities for Nigeria are promoting non-oil growth which creates jobs and incomes and more effective spending by the Government of Nigeria on poverty reduction. The British government assistance is also targeted at efforts aimed at bringing peace and rapid development in the Niger Delta Region of the country.
The bulk of the Oda is coming from the European Union (EU) and other European countries and the United States of America (USA). Analysts are however worried that in spite of the huge resources coming into the country in addition to the abundant human and material resources in the country, majority of Nigerians are still living below the poverty line.
Speaking at an event in London recently, Andrew Mitchell, new UK international development minister reaffirmed government’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of its Gross National Income (GNI) on overseas aid from 2013, and to enshrine this commitment in law.
Mitchell, who spoke at the launch of Oxfam’s report on 21st Century Aid, reassured millions of people across the world who are battling against poverty, disease and injustice that the new coalition government would not abandon them. He further assured that the new government would use every tool at its disposal to champion justice, freedom, fairness and prosperity them.
Mitchell also said that empowerment and transparency are key components of development, and to this end announced “a new UK Aid Transparency Guarantee that will help to create a million independent aid watchdogs, people around the world who can see where aid money is supposed to be going and shout if it doesn’t get there.”
UK development priorities for Nigeria are promoting non-oil growth which creates jobs and incomes and more effective spending by the Government of Nigeria on poverty reduction. The British government assistance is also targeted at efforts aimed at bringing peace and rapid development in the Niger Delta Region of the country.
The bulk of the Oda is coming from the European Union (EU) and other European countries and the United States of America (USA). Analysts are however worried that in spite of the huge resources coming into the country in addition to the abundant human and material resources in the country, majority of Nigerians are still living below the poverty line.
Speaking at an event in London recently, Andrew Mitchell, new UK international development minister reaffirmed government’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of its Gross National Income (GNI) on overseas aid from 2013, and to enshrine this commitment in law.
Mitchell, who spoke at the launch of Oxfam’s report on 21st Century Aid, reassured millions of people across the world who are battling against poverty, disease and injustice that the new coalition government would not abandon them. He further assured that the new government would use every tool at its disposal to champion justice, freedom, fairness and prosperity them.
Mitchell also said that empowerment and transparency are key components of development, and to this end announced “a new UK Aid Transparency Guarantee that will help to create a million independent aid watchdogs, people around the world who can see where aid money is supposed to be going and shout if it doesn’t get there.”
