Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 7 May 2026 — The Independent Evaluation Department (IEvD) hosted a webinar, as part of its 2026 EvalTalks Series to share findings from the Country Engagement Evaluation (CEE) of IsDB Group's operations in Nigeria for the period 2014–2023. 35 participants from across IsDB Group attended, including colleagues from regional hubs.

Mr. Golam Mortaza, Senior Evaluation Specialist, and Mr. Oguz Ceylan, Lead Evaluation Specialist at IEvD, presented the evaluation's key findings, lessons learned, and recommendations. Between 2014 and 2023, the IsDB Group approved 16 projects, 34 grants, and 17 operations in Nigeria, totaling US$1.3 billion across agriculture, education, health, water, transport, and Islamic finance.

The findings show that interventions were well-aligned with Nigeria's national development priorities and broadly effective in delivering results, including 4.5 million livestock vaccinated, 73,627 women and girls trained in digital skills, 30 bilingual schools constructed, and health insurance coverage extended to more than 4,000 people.

The evaluation also identified recurring efficiency and sustainability challenges across the portfolio, including implementation delays, procurement bottlenecks, cost underestimation, and weak monitoring and evaluation systems.

Key recommendations put forward for IsDB and for the Government of Nigeria include strengthening project quality at entry, institutionalizing regular portfolio reviews, enhancing M&E frameworks with real-time tracking, scaling up gender and social inclusion programs, and embedding sustainability mechanisms into project design from the outset.