Vice President Kashim Shettima has departed Abuja on Sunday night in order to represent President Bola Tinubu at the Heads of State summit of the International Development Association (IDA21), which is scheduled to take place in Nairobi, Kenya on Monday.
The high-level gathering, hosted by Kenyan President William Ruto, will see African leaders unite to call for an ambitious replenishment of the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) concessional lending arm.
A statement signed by Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media & Communications (Office of The Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, said Shettima is expected to take a lead role in advocating for Nigeria’s vision of a transformative IDA21 financing package to accelerate development across the continent over the 2024-2026 period.
In the draft “Nairobi IDA Communique” to be considered at the summit, African heads of state outline urgent priorities for IDA’s next three-year funding cycle, including building human capital, creating jobs, enhancing energy and digital access, building climate resilience, and promoting sustainable growth.
While thanking donors for contributing $23.5 billion to the current IDA20 cycle, the communique states that this level of financing is inadequate to meet the massive investment needs. It calls on “IDA partners/donors to step up and ensure a robust replenishment for IDA21.”
Vice President Shettima is expected to emphasize that partners like IDA will be critical to realizing Nigeria’s economic transformation agenda, with the country’s young population requiring substantial investments in sectors like job creation, energy access, and human capital development.
The Nairobi summit follows previous IDA gatherings in Abidjan in 2022 and Dakar last year where African leaders united to call for an ambitious IDA20 replenishment from donors.