How we plan to rescue 700m poor people globally, by World Bank President, Kim

• Says $25 billion soft loan package under way
• Buhari plans N240b for the same purpose in four years

Disturbed by global slow growth driven by failing prices of natural commodities, the World Bank yesterday declared that it is making provision for a whopping $25 billion to rescue some 700 million people worldwide from extreme poverty through soft loans.

World Bank President, Mr. Jim Yong Kim, who said this yesterday at a welcome press briefing of the 2016 Spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, United States (U.S.) monitored in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), stated that beneficiaries of the largesse are to be concentrated in poor and middle-income member-countries of the world of which Nigeria is one.

The soul-lifting action is coming as Nigeria equally plans to spend the sum of N240 billion for the same plan under President Muhammadu Buhari’s four years administration if the current controversial Federal Government budget eventually is assented to by President Buhari.

While the World Bank’s plan would come as a soft loan, the Nigeria’s arrangement under the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) scheme is entirely free for all identified extremely poor people with the only conditions that beneficiaries must send their children to school as well as allow their children to receive immunisation and other government packages introduced to free citizens from being trapped perpetually in poverty.

According to one of the desk officers in the office of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on the N500 billion social content package of the Federal Government’s 2016 spending plan who disclosed the plan to The Guardian in a chat in Dubai yesterday but choose to remain anonymous because the plan is yet to become law, the N240 billion represents N5,000 only for 1,000000 (one million poor Nigerians monthly which translate to about N5 billion monthly, translating to N60 billion yearly and when aggregated for the four-year tenure of the administration, it builds up to N240 billion.

Kim yesterday told journalists already in Washington for the official opening of the Spring meeting yesterday that a new member-country, the Pacific Island State of Nauru, has joined the World Bank Group membership, bringing the strength to 189 from its former 188.

The World Bank President also spoke on the new member and the marshall plan to rescue the 700 million still trapped in abject poverty, saying: “I would like to first acknowledge our 189th member-country – the Pacific Island State of Nauru, which officially joined the World Bank Group just two days ago. On behalf of the institution, I’m very happy to welcome the Republic of Nauru to the World Bank Group.

“At our last gathering in Lima, we announced that for the first time the percentage of people living in extreme poverty around the world was projected to fall under 10 per cent globally in 2015. Today, roughly 700 million people live in extreme poverty – a reduction of more than one billion people than 15 years ago.”