World Bank director promises to help Nigeria realizes full potential

The new World Bank country director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, says it was an honour to be in Nigeria and have the opportunity to help government partners, at the Federal and state levels, realize Nigeria’s full and considerable potential.

Chaudhuri who joined the Nigeria Office on Tuesday will be succeeding Rachid Benmessaoud who just completed his term as the country director.

This, he said, the bank was doing by transforming the economy, catalyzing private investment and job creation, investing in Nigeria’s children and creating opportunities for Nigeria’s youth and women.

“The World Bank Group has a long-standing partnership with Nigeria and I look forward to deepening our engagement with government partners, with Nigeria’s very vibrant civil society and private sector, and with international development partners to help lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.” Chaudhuri said.

According to the World Bank in a statement released, Chaudhuri top priorities would be to lead the strategic dialogue with government, development partners, and other key stakeholders.

He would also develop and implement the new country partnership framework, and provide customized solutions and policy advice to Nigeria.

Chaudhuri joined the World Bank in 2004 and has held several leadership positions at the Bank, his most recent position being the Country Director for Afghanistan.

Chaudhuri had been Practice Manager in the Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice for the South Asia Region. He also held the position of Manager of the World Bank’s Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Department for East Asia and the Pacific and Lead Economist for Indonesia.

As a lead economist for Indonesia, Chaudhuri was responsible for leading the overall economic policy dialogue, advisory and development policy lending work in Indonesia.

He also managed the Jakarta-based economic team, which works closely with partners in government and in the development community to further Indonesia’s development agenda.

Prior to Chaudhuri joining the Bank, he spent a decade as an Economics professor and Director of the Programme in Economic and Political Development at Columbia University in New York.

The new Country director has a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University and a Ph.D. also in Economics from Princeton University.