Ndiamé Diop, the newly appointed World Bank country director for Nigeria, has taken charge of affairs of the Bretton Woods institution’s office in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria.
He replaced Shubham Chaudhuri who completed his term as country director for Nigeria recently.
Before moving to Nigeria, Diop, who holds a doctorate, served as the bank’s country director for Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand, operating from out in Manila, the capital of Philippines.
According to a statement made available to Business a.m., Diop, while serving in Manila, 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 programmes) 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 programme aimed at helping the country become a high-income economy through cutting edge economic analyses and technical assistance,” the World Bank said, adding that he engaged the Thai government to resume World Bank investment lending after a pause of two decades.
“I am most excited to be leading the World Bank’s programme 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 levels by ensuring quality technical and financial support which will help accelerate progress for Nigeria’s development priorities,” Diop said.
“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,” he added.
Ndiamé Diop is expected to lead the World Bank’s team in Nigeria and deepen policy dialogue and partnership with the government and key stakeholders. He will oversee the delivery and implementation of lending and non-lending support to Nigeria.
According to the bank’s statement, Diop has held several leadership positions in the World Bank which include, head of the macroeconomics, trade and investment unit for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, based in Jakarta and Bangkok; lead economist for Indonesia, based in Jakarta; lead economist roles for Jordan and Lebanon; country economist roles in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Notably he 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,” the World Bank said.
