The United Kingdom has budgeted N74.9bn (£245.2m) as international aid to support projects in Nigeria in line with its operational plan for the current financial year.
The country said Nigeria ranked second in terms of the amount it gave in international aid after Pakistan whose budget is £384.31m for the year 2015/2016.
According to information in its overseas aid transparency publication, Sierra Leone ranks third with £229.31m financial support allocated to it followed by Ethiopia with £220.5m and Kenya with £168m for the same year.
With 45 active projects in Nigeria, the UK said highest ranking sectors in which the funds would be spent were the government agencies which accounted for 27.96 per cent of the total projects, health sector with 21.85 per cent, education having 10.74 per cent, other multiple sectors having 6.67 per cent projects as well as the industry with 44.26 per cent projects.
In its report, the results of projects, funded by the UK Department For International Development for the past years, showed that the income of 470,000 Nigerians was raised by more than 15 per cent in 2012/2013 and it provided support for almost 440,000 people to have control over their own development and hold decision makers to account since 2011/2012.
Moreover, in the health sector, 430,000 births in Nigeria had been attended by skilled health workers since 2011-12 and between April and December 2013, over 510,000 Nigerians gained access to clean drinking water
It added that over four million pregnant women and children under five years of age had received interventions to improve nutrition between 2011 and 2012.
The publication said, “The priorities for the year include providing more people with better services, including education, health care and access to safe water and sanitation; helping Nigeria use its oil revenues to improve the lives of its citizens, help establish an enabling governance environment for tackling corruption and enhancing transparency and accountability.”
“A stable, better governed and prosperous Nigeria would rapidly reduce poverty. It would also hugely benefit UK trade, energy and security interests, and help reduce crime and illegal migration. 2013/2014 has seen a worsening of the security situation for many Nigerians, both in terms of terrorist activity and state’s response and rising inter-communal tensions.”
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