WorldStage– The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mr Mathew Verghis, has called for stronger leadership and broader stakeholder support to advance Early Childhood Development (ECD).
Verghis made the call on Monday during a visit to the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, at the State House, Abuja,
Members of the delegation included the Early Years Programme Lead, Dr Ritual Tilley-Gyado; Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, Dr Awa Diane; Education Specialist, Dr Mixture Rural; and External Relations Officer, Mr Mansir Nasir.
Verghis said the World Bank regarded ECD as Nigeria’s most critical long-term investment, adding that its current development framework focused on key areas of joint programme implementation over a five to six-year period.
He said the bank’s early childhood development strategy aimed to improve nutrition, health and overall well-being among Nigerian children.
According to him, investments from pregnancy to the age of five generate high annual returns by improving cognitive development, reducing healthcare costs and helping to break cycles of multidimensional poverty.
“Every five or six years, we reframe our programmes in Nigeria. Nigeria is, unsurprisingly, one of the World Bank’s key partners, and our office here is one of the largest in the world.
“Within this framework, investing in people is an important focus of the World Bank. We are partners in education, nutrition and skills development because we recognise the importance of investing in people.
“As we shape our next development framework, one conclusion we arrived at is for Nigeria to benefit from our Early Childhood Development programme,” he said.
Verghis appealed to the First Lady to use her platform to promote a multisectoral approach to ensure the success of the programme across the country.
He acknowledged that many of the initiatives being implemented through the Renewed Hope Initiative aligned with the World Bank’s priorities.
He described Nigeria as a strategic partner whose success was critical to the World Bank’s global development targets.
“Nigeria is a very important partner for the World Bank, and its success is crucial to the Bank achieving its target.
“We have targets in healthcare delivery, broadband and energy access. If Nigeria does not succeed, the World Bank is not succeeding,” he said.
Verghis said global economic research had consistently shown that investing in young children was one of the best public sector investments because it yielded high returns.
He, however, noted that the challenge was that the returns came much later, adding that such long-term investments required visionary leadership because the benefits were not immediate.
Responding, Tinubu said the Federal Government remained committed to initiatives that would promote national development and improve citizens’ welfare.
She said ministries and agencies had continued to implement programmes that supported environmental sanitation, public health and child development.
She said the country had been implementing multisectoral approach with ministries and agencies of government, adding that President Bola Tinubu had assembled a wonderful team that understood the vision of the present administration.
“The population size of Nigeria alone is our advantage, because Nigeria is a great nation.“When it comes to tuberculosis, we went out for sensitisation, and promoted the campaign, and now we are focusing on our children because they are the future of our nation,” she said.
