That World Bank Debate

A rather development debate, which unfortunately assumed an ethnic slant almost took the shine off other major news items last week. The World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, at a forum in the United States, had said during a question and answer session that President Muhammadu Buhari had asked him to focus their assistance more on the north (not North-east). The question was basically on the efforts of the World Bank in addressing development challenges in Nigeria.

Of course, the issue became very controversial following the debates that would later attend it. A majority of the people felt that by pointedly asking the World Bank to concentrate on the North, the president has again exhibited his alleged sectional disposition, a factor believed to be responsible for most of the crises in the country today.

There is no debating the fact that with the devastating effects of the Boko Haram attacks in the North-eastern part of the country, the zone would require some special focus in the areas of infrastructure development to be able to catch up with the rest of the country. That notwithstanding, every part of the country requires as much attention, including the cosmopolitan Lagos, which had for many years sought special status.

To say that the Niger Delta is not equally in a good place is alluding to the obvious. Therefore, the president asking the World Bank a specific and pointed demand is bound to attract such criticisms. Thus, while the leadership of the country must avoid ethnic toga in shared interest, it is also important that Nigerians too learn to support any development effort in any part of the whole and see such as theirs too as an indivisible whole. Importantly, this World Bank debate has again exposed the nation’s fault lines and indeed, a very sad development to say the least.

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