Shettima Off To Nairobi For IDA Heads Of State Summit

Vice President Kashim Shettima will depart Abuja on Sunday to represent President Bola Tinubu at the crucial International Development Association (IDA21) Heads of State Summit taking place on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya.

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.

According to a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nwkocha, 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 emphasise that partners like IDA will be critical to realising 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.