Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State has reiterated his administration’s commitment to deepening the existing partnership between the state government and the World Bank.

The Governor explained that this was with a view to ensuring the implementation the good governance policy of his administration as enunciated in his 5 point point policy thrust.

Governor lalong stated this on Friday in Abuja during a meeting with World Bank officials when he visited the bank’s country office in Abuja.

According to the governor, he will do everything possible to access all the World Bank intervention funds due to Plateau State that have yet to be accessed by her but domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Lalong said that his administration had decided to leverage on the many oppoturnities that are availed the state government by the Bank by meeting up the counterpart funding requirements in order to access funds with which to execute projects for the benefit of the people.

Governor Lalong stressed that since state governments had received the last tranche of their Paris Club refunds, many would find it difficult to cope with their avalanche of financial demands, hence, there was every need to take advantage of what the Bank had to offer the states.

“What you are doing is in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We need your interventions now more than ever before, and we owe you the mere responsibility of meeting our counterpart funding obligations to access the much-needed funds.

“It was for this reason that on assumption of office we placed high premium on health and nutritiön by establishing the state Primary Healthcare Development Agency where intervention funds will be channeled for the development of the healthcare sector.”

The Governor added that goverment would key into the Save One Million Lives intervention program of the Bank, especially considering its ability to positively affect many lives and the seriousness that it deserves.

Responding, the World Bank Country Director, Mr Ben Massoud, thanked the Governor for the visit and pledged deeper cooperation with the Plateau State Government.

Also contributing to the discussion, the Bank’s Lead Healh and Nutrition Specialist, Benjamin Loevinson, called on the governor to continue to prioritize children nutrition in order to access the available grants meant for the project.

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Gov Lalong meets World Bank officials, pledges deeper partnership