Friday, November 25, 2011

France loans Nigeria $100 million for buses

   
PARIS France has promised it will loan Nigeria $100 million to set up a bus network in its sprawling commercial capital Lagos, the foreign ministry said on Friday during a visit by Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan.
 "In coordination with Nigerian authorities, the French development agency, on the ground since 2008, has made urban development one of its operational priorities in this country," a statement said.
 France said the loan would be made to the Nigerian federal government but then passed to Lagos State. It will help fund the city's new $330 million urban transport plan, which is co-financed by the World Bank.
Lagos is sub-Saharan Africa's greatest metropolis and the commercial hub of Africa's oil-exporting largest nation, but its public infrastructure struggles to cope with its vast population.
Jonathan and his finance minister former World Bank managing director Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are on a working visit to Paris to drum up trade and investment from France, which has growing oil interests in Nigerian fields.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

mr.president nd his finance minister hop dis loan 'll b used judiciously?wuld av prefered d facilitation of our rail transportation system...