The World Bank on Wednesday advised the Federal Government to ensure that social safety programmes in the country create jobs for the participating communities.
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The World Bank Vice President for Africa, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of? the Spring Meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary fund in Washington DC on Wednesday.
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NAN reports that Ezekwesili is expected to return to Nigeria in early May after serving her term as the bank's vice president for Africa since 2007.
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To this effect, the World Bank on Tuesday announced the appointment of Makhtar Diop, a Senegalese national, as its new Vice President for Africa.
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Diop, the World Bank’s Country Director for Brazil since 2009, will take up his new position on May 6th.
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“In the case of the government of Nigeria, I think they’re really getting to design safety net programmes in ways that the citizens in communities really own those programmes and see those programmes as programmes that are supposed to enable them migrate into productive jobs.’’
According to her, inclusive growth will be achieved once the citizens see themselves as the beneficiaries of the programme.
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She noted that an effective and efficient social safety net policy had helped some countries improve the living standards of their citizens at the grassroots.
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Ezekwesili said in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya where the social safety net was used to empower the poor, the citizens had become the co-designers of the programmme.
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The World Bank vice president urged the Nigerian government to adopt such approach as it would go a long way to ensure sustainability of the programme.
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?“As you heard from the Minister of Finance for Ethiopia, they engaged the citizens and they became the co-designers of the safety net programmes. This approach ended up being a very important policy response to the needs of those who are excluded in the process of economic growth.’’ (NAN)