Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun has called on the Islamic Development Bank, IDB, to support Nigeria in the rebuilding of the Northeast region which has been ravaged by terrorism.

Adeosun made the appeal on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration of the IDB Country Gateway office.

She said that Nigeria was making efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, and would require the support of the IDB in that regard.

She said: “I call on the IDB Group to work with development partners in operationalising the recovery and peace building assessment and implementation of the recently constituted June 2016 Buhari plan for the revitalisation of the North-East.

“This entails addressing aspects of interventions relating to peace building, stability and social cohesion.

The finance minister said that the new IDB office would go a long way to ensure speedy completion of projects and better impact of development intervention in the country.

Ahmad Ali, the IDB president, said that the bank is inspired by Nigeria’s exemplary leadership, drive for national development and zero tolerance for corruption, promising that the bank would give Nigeria its utmost support in alignment with the nation’s development priorities.

He added that “The IDB group considers the education sector and particularly bilingual education among its priority areas in Nigeria and a key tool to counter extremism.”

Ali said that the bank would also focus on agriculture, health, infrastructure, small and medium enterprises and regional integration.

He noted that the establishment of the country gateway office would enable the group to be more service-centric and closer to the Nigerian clients in both public and private sectors.

Ali and his team later paid a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa.

The IDB is a multilateral development financing institution established in 1975 in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria became its 56th member country in 2005.