A WORLD Bank official yesterday put the blame for Nigeria’s high poverty situation on the country’s leaders, whom he said are impervious to advice.
The official, Mr. Basil Kavalsky, also decried the country’s maintenance culture, noting the penchant of successive Nigerian leaders to engage in fresh road construction contracts while the existing ones are turning into death traps.
Kavalsky, the global lending body’s consultant on Independent Evaluation Group (IEG), made the submissions during a meeting with finance reporters in Abuja.
Kavalsky and the Group’s Lead Evaluation Officer, Catherine Gwin, at the interaction session, are part of a five-man team currently in the country evaluating the World Bank’s policies of engagement and projects during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s era.
He contended that Nigeria has not really got its due from the Bank because it is most often not open to advice.
He said: “Nigerians’ minds are most often closed because they don’t accept advice. When you want to tell them how to do things, they will tell you, don’t worry, we know how to do it. That’s why Nigeria has not been successful as China and other developing countries in Asia where the bank has really impacted positively. You got to be open.”
Kavalsky continued: “We couldn’t just push down here the strategies used in China because these are different jurisdictions. As a bank, we not only do the talking, we also do a lot of listening both to the central and state governments as well as to civil society groups. Although, it does appear in Nigeria the bank didn’t get listened to in some aspects because of Nigeria’s disposition.”
On how the country could jump-start its economy, the World Bank official said: “I think the key issue for Nigeria is for her to find out how effectively she could benefit from the Bank like China and other countries have done to upgrade their technology and infrastructure.”
He deplored the state of Nigeria’s infrastructure, saying: “You don’t get a prize in rushing to build new roads when existing ones are in very bad shape. It’s like rushing to build a new house when your lounge and kitchen are leaking. The maintenance culture is very bad and I think something needs to be done about it.”
The Bank Evaluation Group is independent of the World Bank’s management and reports directly to the board. The team has undertaken visits to a number of states where the Bank has engagement in the country.
The other three members of the team included Mr. David Pearce; Mr. Inder Sud and Mr. Omar Lyasse. Their evaluation is centered on macro and public sector management; capacity building and governance; poverty and human development; infrastructure and private sector development and agriculture, environment and community development.