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DFID Nigeria
British High Commission, Plot 607 Bobo Street, off Gana Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria
Tel:+234 9 413 7710-19| Fax:+234 9 413 7396
Email: nigeria-enquiries@dfid.gov.uk
Map courtesy of the FCO
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Nigeria
Background
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with a population of 140
million. The country suffers from extreme poverty: over 70 million people live
on less than $1/day. Nigeria has some of the worst social indicators in the
world:
- one in five children dies before the age of five;
- around 7 million children are not in school; and
- around 2.6 million people are living with HIV or AIDS.
Nigeria receives relatively little development assistance per capita (around
$6) compared to the average for sub-Saharan Africa (over $20). The UK has
increased its aid substantially and quickly. We increased our programme from
£35 million in 2003/04 to £80 million last year. In 2007/08 DFID is committed to
spending up to
£100 million.
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Economic and Political Summary
 On 29 May 2007 Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was inaugurated as President marking the
first civilian-to-civilian handover of power in Nigeria’s history. President
Yar’Adua took over from President Olusegun Obasanjo who oversaw significant
improvements in Nigeria’s economic governance. President Yar’Adua has pledged to
continue and extend the reform process.
The
 National
Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) was launched in May
2004 as Nigeria’s home-grown growth and poverty reduction strategy. Nigeria’s 36
states have also developed State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategies
(SEEDS). The NEEDS and SEEDS focus on
- achieving growth
- better service delivery
- reform of government institutions and the political system
- and transformation
of values to overcome corruption and inefficiency.
DFID’s assistance in Nigeria since 2004 has focused on supporting the Nigerian government’s priorities in NEEDS and
SEEDS.
The previous administration started taking decisive action against
corruption, which President Yar’Adua has pledged to continue. Nigeria is a
leader in the implementation of the
Extractive
Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and in 2003 established a dynamic Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission to fight corruption.
At state level, the challenges are
greater, but here too there has been progress. Their performance in economic
governance - the policy, institutional, and legal environment within which an
economy functions - and transparency are being measured. Reforms are being
introduced to improve the accountability of local government. Donors and the
federal government are helping states to reform.
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DFID in Nigeria
DFID Nigeria, set up as a devolved country office in 2001, is working with Nigerian stakeholders,
and other development partners,
to tackle the major challenges which the country faces. DFID has a joint Country
Partnership Strategy(CPS) with the World Bank which was finalised in spring 2005
; USAID has since joined the partnership. The CPS focuses on supporting Nigeria's NEEDS programme, as well as tackling the Millennium Development Goals’s and building demand for pro-poor change. Joint strategies to support NEEDS
are focusing on:
- an improved environment and services for non-oil growth;
- enhanced transparency and accountability for better governance; and
- an improved service delivery for human development.
DFID Nigeria's main office is in Abuja. There are also three regional offices
coordinating programmes in a number of the 36 states. These are in Lagos
(South-West), Enugu (South-East & South-South), and Kano (Northern Nigeria).
Read more information on DFID's programme in Nigeria (71
kb).
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Nigeria and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Aid
DFID has been working hard with the Nigerian authorities to ensure that all
the savings from the cancellation of Nigeria’s debt in October 2005 are
effectively targeted on reducing poverty. The debt deal means an additional $1
billion a year is available for the government of Nigeria to spend on poverty
reduction. In 2006, the gains resulted in the retraining of 145,000 teachers and
the recruitment of 40,000 new teachers.
 Education
A Universal Basic Education (UBE) bill, to get girls as well as boys into
school, has been approved at the federal level, and most states have ratified
the bill's provisions so that it also applies at the local level. Net primary
enrolment is around 68% and rising slowly, and spending on education is
increasing as a share of the budget, although further improvements are required
if Nigeria is to reach the universal primary education MDG by 2015.
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Health
Nigeria is currently off track on all the health-related MDGs and total
government spending on health has remained below 5% - one of the lowest rates in
Africa. However, a new National Health Policy and health reform strategy have
been approved to rebuild systems to deliver public health services.
Water and sanitation
Water supply in Nigeria suffers from limited investment in infrastructure and
poor management. The Government’s efforts to develop a national policy for the
water sector are ongoing. Improving governance in the water sector and using the
government’s own resources more effectively are key to meeting the water MDG in
Nigeria. Some sources suggest that the MDG indicator on access to safe water is
likely to be met by 2015. However, this is disputed by others, and there are
very large variations in access to safe water between regions and urban and
rural areas.
Read more on how DFID is tackling water and
sanitation in Nigeria.
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Links
Last updated: 2 January 2008
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