Africa gets 3rd seat on World Bank board

From Edmund Mingle, Abuja
November 19, 2008

World Bank has offered Africa an additional third seat on its Executive Board, increasing the total number of representatives on the board from 24 to 25.

This comes in the wake of calls from for Africa, which is the largest beneficiary of the bank’s projects to have an increased representation on the board.

Although the decision for the additional seat is settled, the country to occupy the seat is yet to be finalized.

Simeon Ehui, Sustainable Development Sector Manager of the World Bank Office in Nigeria, confirmed the decision for the additional seat for Africa to foreign journalists in Abuja, described the development as “good news for Africa.”

He told 15 foreign journalists and alumni of the International Institute for Journalism (IIJ) of Germany who visited the World Bank office in Abuja, on the sidelines of the Partnership with Africa Forum held here, that the move was part of efforts to enhance the participation of Africa in the bank’s decision making processes.

The Executive Board, which is one of the highest decision making organs in the bank, currently has 24 executive directors of which five are appointed by the members who constitute the five largest shareholders of the bank, being the United States, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom. The 19 remaining Executive Directors are elected by the Bank's other member countries.
The Executive Directors select the President who serves as Chairman of the Boards. The Executive Directors approve the President's contract, and also reserves the authority to remove the President
The Executive Directors operate in continuous session and decides on investments, loans, credits and grants advanced by the bank and its institutions, as well as decide on policies that impact the World Bank Group’s general operations.

Mr Ehui, also told the group of journalists, led by Astrid Kohl, the Head of the IIJ, that
the World Bank Group has proposed a new lending facility of $3 billion dollars) for Nigeria between 2009 and 2011, under its International Development Assistance (IDA), to address infrastructural gap in the country.

Nigeria, which has bank’s largest portfolio in Africa totaling over $2.5 billion granted for projects ranging from agriculture, health, communications, roads, power and water, he explained, was eligible to receive the $3 billion to support development projects and eradicate poverty.

“The loan has been offered to Nigeria because of the massive improvement in the economy,” he said.

The World Bank’s offer came after a recent of the disclosure by Nigeria’s Minister of State for Finance, Remi Babalola, that the country required about $100 billion (about N11.70 trillion) to address critical infrastructural problems, including power.

Ms Kohl, in her remarks commended the bank for its effort in addressing and reducing poverty worldwide.