Th e federal government has urged the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to do more for Nigeria by supporting the implementation of the country’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and the delivery of signature infrastructure to meet the development aspirations of Nigerians. According to a statement signed by Director (Information), Salisu Na’inna Dambatta, the call was made by the representative of the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun to the 42nd annual meeting of the Bank and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr. Mahmoud Isa-Dutse. She made a presentation as Nigeria’s Governor on the Board of the Bank during its key business session in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“We want IsDB to be more visible and deliver signature infrastructure projects in Nigeria. We appreciate their intervention in the water supply, health and education sectors in a number of our States, but we want IsDB to do more,” he emphasised. She continued: “Also, given IsDB’s unique role as Islamic Bank with multiplicity of intervention instruments not available to traditional development banks, we expect IDB to be bold and work collaboratively with other MDBs to ensure overall complementarity in all development interventions in Nigeria.” He expressed Nigeria’s appreciation to IsDB for consistently supporting Nigeria’s economic and development aspirations, and for upgrading the Nigerian offi ce to a regional hub, which will be responsible for other countries in West and Central Africa. Th e minister restated Nigeria’s call on IsDB, to increase its fi nancial and technical assistance to Nigeria to fast track the achievement of her numerous economic, developmental and inclusive growth goals. Adeosun noted that Nigeria has derived many benefi ts from its membership of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), which has fi nanced many development projects in various States of the federation