Nigeria seeks World Bank’s approval for third restructuring of $180.2 million nutrition project

 

Nigeria is seeking the World Bank’s approval for a third restructuring of its $180.2 million nutrition project, officially known as the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project.

According to the restructuring paper, the request, submitted by the Federal Ministry of Finance to the World Bank on June 7, 2024, comes as the country grapples with an escalating food and nutrition crisis, particularly in the North-Eastern, North-Western, and North-Central regions.

The document read: “This paper seeks the approval of the Country Director to restructure the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) Project (P162069, IDA Credit No. 6269, Grant No. TF0A7516). This is the third restructuring of the ANRiN Project.”

The ANRiN project, initially approved in June 2018, represents Nigeria’s largest investment in nutrition and aims to address the high levels of malnutrition and stunting among vulnerable populations, including pregnant women, lactating mothers, adolescent girls, and children under five years old.

● Background and Project Status

The ANRiN project was launched as a strategic intervention to mitigate malnutrition in 11 high-burden states across Nigeria’s five geopolitical zones.

It originally received $225 million in funding from the International Development Association (IDA) and a $7 million grant from the Global Financing Facility (GFF).

However, the project has undergone significant changes since its inception, including a partial cancellation of $51.8 million from the IDA credit, which revised the project’s financing to $180.2 million.

Despite initial delays in implementation and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the project has made commendable progress.

As of May 2024, the project had provided child nutrition services to over 8.5 million children under five, reached nearly 4 million pregnant women with basic nutrition services, and supported the treatment of 2.6 million children at risk of severe malnutrition.

The project is also recognized for its successful integration of non-state actors in delivering nutrition services, which has been pivotal in reaching the project’s goals.

A significant portion of the project’s success hinges on the achievement of Disbursement Linked Results (DLRs), with 26 out of 33 DLRs already met.

As of May 31, 2024, a total of $113.11 million has been disbursed, representing 67 percent of the IDA credit ($173.2 million) and 63 percent of the grant financing ($7 million) allocated for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project. The project is currently scheduled to end on December 31, 2024.

● Rationale for Restructuring

The proposed restructuring aims to repurpose the existing funds to address the emerging food and nutrition crisis, which threatens to worsen an already dire situation.

The restructuring proposal includes reallocating $30 million from Component 2 (Stewardship and Project Management) to Component 1 (Delivery of a Basic Package of Nutrition Services) to bolster the Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) in the crisis-affected states.

This adjustment is crucial for ensuring a rapid and effective response to the escalating malnutrition rates, particularly among children under five.

The restructuring also includes the introduction of a new Project Development Objective (PDO) indicator to measure the effectiveness of the IMAM program, focusing on the number of children treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).

● What you should know

Nairametrics earlier reported that Nigeria’s debt to the World Bank increased by $1.07 billion under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Also, Nigeria secured a total of $4.95 billion in loans from the World Bank under Tinubu amid concerns over the country’s rising external debt servicing costs.

The World Bank may approve four loan projects totalling $2 billion for Nigeria this year.

Data from the external debt stock report of the Debt Management Office (DMO) shows that Nigeria owes the World Bank a total of $15.59 billion as of March 31, 2024.

[Nairametrics]