By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The newly appointed World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, on Monday officially assumed office, succeeding Shubham Chaudhuri who recently completed his term in the same capacity.
Dr. Ndiamé Diop says he is excited to lead the international lender’s programmes in the West African country at “this critical time”.
“I am most excited to be leading the World Bank’s program in Nigeria, especially at this critical time when Nigeria has a significant opportunity to make progress towards improving its economy and delivering development outcomes for its citizens.
“I look forward to deepening our partnership with the Government of Nigeria at the federal and state level by ensuring quality technical and financial support which will help accelerate progress for Nigeria’s development priorities,” said Dr. Ndiamé Diop.
“Nigeria is a dynamic and vibrant country which is significant for the entire sub-region. The World Bank Group is most committed to working with the Government, development partners and citizens to realise a thriving economy where jobs and economic prospects are created, and millions of Nigerians are lifted out of poverty”.
Before his assignment to Abuja, Dr. Diop served as the World Bank Country Director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, based in Manila.
In this position, he more than tripled the Bank’s financing to the Philippines to scale up the Bank’s support to key economic reforms (policy-based budget support programs) and the nation’s endeavours to bridge disparities in various sectors, including nutrition, stunting, healthcare, social protection delivery, education, agriculture, and digital connectivity.
In Malaysia, he supervised the delivery of a large Malaysia-funded knowledge program aimed at helping the country become a high-income economy through cutting-edge economic analyses and technical assistance.
Furthermore, he engaged the Thai government to resume World Bank investment lending after a pause of two decades.
He also served as the Bank’s Resident Representative for Tunisia between 2007 and 2010. He joined the World Bank in Washington DC in 2000 as a Young Professional.
As an economist, he has published in peer-reviewed Journals and books on fiscal policy and growth, monetary policy and inflation, macro policies.
