Julius Okojie, executive secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), says the World Bank has disbursed over N1.4 billion to 10 African Centres of Excellence (ACE) in Nigeria.
Okojie disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on ACE Project Post-Effectiveness on Monday in Abuja.
He said process of determining the beneficiaries of the project was rigorous and competitive, saying “I am happy to announce that the World Bank has disbursed the sum of N1.4 billion to the 10 ACEs in Nigeria.
“The first tranche was shared equally among the 10 ACEs in order to avoid delays in implementation due to low liquidity. It is important to emphasise that what each university will get after today depends on the results that they produce,’’ he said.
According to Okojie, the aim of the Project Development Objective (PDO) is to support the recipients to promote regional specialisation among participating universities
“This workshop was therefore put together primarily to build the capacity of all stakeholders in this project in order to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities.
“Emphasis will be on financial management and audit processes, procurements, safeguards, communications as well as deliberation with NUC team on the next steps,’’ he said.
The NUC boss said another objective was to meet the labour market demands for skills within specific areas where there were shortages.
Tunde Adekola, a representative of the World Bank, said it was the first time Nigeria was receiving such massive support from the bank.
He said the essence of accommodating state and private universities in the ACE project was to make it competitive, as the goal of the project was results, adding that the World Bank would monitor it to ensure efficiency.
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