Consultant - Nigeria Country Diagnostic Note (CDN) - ECCE (EOI) at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Expressions of Interest: Consultant - Support to the Preparation of the Nigeria Country Diagnostic Note (CDN) - ECCE

Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Consultant type: Individual Consultant
Department issuing the request: Country Economics Department (ECCE).
Duration of the assignment: Six (6) months
Tentative date of commencement: 1 March 2023

Introduction

• Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development finance institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries or RMCs).
• The Bank’s development agenda is providing financial and technical support for transformative projects and programs that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. To sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, the High 5s (Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialize Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life for the people of Africa) have been prioritized to accelerate delivery of the Bank’s support to African countries, through scaled up support to the RMCs.
• The Nigeria Country Department (RDNG) was established with a mandate like the Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery Directorates, to oversee the Bank’s operations in Nigeria. Nigeria Country Department, in collaboration with office of the Vice President and Chief Economist Complex (ECVP) and other Bank user units, is responsible for delivery of the Bank’s policy dialogue, operations, business development and donor coordination in Nigeria.
• It is against this background that RDNG in collaboration with ECVP, in a quest to support Nigeria’s development agenda, undertakes non-lending activities and policy dialogue, underpinned by production of evidenced based knowledge documents, such as the country strategy papers, Country Diagnostic Note, analytical and policy research papers and economic intelligence briefs and project concept notes, among others. Project and programmatic documents are mainly presented to the Board while knowledge papers are disseminated to the wider audience in both printed and soft versions. In this regard, RDNG and the Country Economics Department (ECCE) in the ECVP Complex seek to recruit a consultant to support the Task Team in preparing the Country Diagnostic Note (CDN) for Nigeria.
• The purpose of the Country Diagnostic Note (CDN) is to examine Nigeria’s efforts toward inclusive growth and sustainable development. The Note will provide rigorous analytical assessment and identification of the constraints that have prevented the Nigerian economy from translating its potential into a productive and prosperous economy.
• In addition, it should highlight how Nigeria can navigate multiple crises that confront the economy in quest to rid the country of the constraints that have trapped the economy in perpetual search for prosperity amid huge human and material endowments.
• The CDN will thus dive deep into sectoral analysis and review of other important macroeconomic variables to loosen the paradox of ‘poverty amid plenty’ and set the economy on an irreversible trajectory of inclusive growth and sustainable development.
• The findings and analysis of the CDN will underpin identification of the areas of priority of Nigeria’s 5-year strategy, which facilitates the Bank’s prioritization of its assistance in line with the country’s development agenda, the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy and the High 5s priority areas. In this regard, the CDN will serve as guide for forward-looking dialogue with the country authorities on areas that policy needs to focus on to drive faster, inclusive and sustainable growth.

Scope of Work
Under the overall guidance of the Director, ECCE and Director General, RDNG and the immediate supervision by the Task Manager for this assignment, the Consultant will be a member of the core team and actively participate and contribute to the preparation of the CDN. Specifically, the Consultant will be required to carry out the following:

• Lead the preparation of a thematic chapter for the CDN, focusing on the points below:
  • Undertake a rigorous diagnostic assessment of the Nigeria’s potentials and identify constrains to harnessing her huge potentials to drive inclusive growth and sustainable development in Nigeria
  • Identify the causes and consequences of non-inclusiveness of Nigeria’s economic growth and rising poverty and widening inequality among Nigerians to position the economy on a path of sustained growth and development
  • Identify critical elements of Nigeria’s management of multiple crises that have affected the country’s economy and discuss implementation of containment measures and other mitigating strategies to achieve recorded results.
  • Based on the results above, assess to what extent such crises management lessons could be employed in managing the Nigerian economy to achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development going into the future
  • Identify how existing strategic development plans can be effectively implemented to harness Nigeria’s abundant resources to drive inclusive growth and sustainable development on a sustainable basis.
  • Propose other policy measures that will enhance better management of the Nigerian economy by avoiding the policy mistakes of the past.
• Prepare a full CDN report complete with proposals deliverables outlined above and the schedule of implementation of each component.

Specific Deliverables

• Lead the production of a thematic chapter for the CDN as outlined above
• Full and Complete Country Diagnostic Note for Nigeria due by end-May 2023
• Concept Note for the Nigeria Country Strategy Paper 2025-2029

Qualifications, Experience and Competencies
Education:

• The candidate should possess a minimum of a Master's Degree (PhD desirable) in Economics, Public Policy or related fields.

Experience:

• Demonstrated work experience of not less than 10 years gained in a reputable international development financial institution, government agency or policy-oriented institution with special focus on leading teams in delivering on corporate strategies and/or flagship reports.
• Prior experience in preparing high quality policy and strategy documents, economic intelligence briefs and policy research, is indispensable.
• The candidate should demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and possess strong interpersonal and networking skills essential for the demanding work in RDNG.
• Prospective applicants should be prepared to work in a culturally diverse environment.
• Knowledge of the Nigerian socio-economic and political landscape is critical.
• Excellent report-writing skills and distinguished track record in the assignment. For this assignment, excellent written and verbal communication skills in English is a must.
• Proven capacity to deliver quality policy relevant knowledge products in a timely manner
• Ability to think critically and independently to analyse and synthesize complex economic and policy issues affecting economic growth and development in Nigeria. 

Criteria For Short Listing of Candidates

• The eligibility criteria, the establishment of a short-list and the selection procedure shall be in conformity with the Bank’s Rules and Procedure for Acquisition of Consulting Services and according to criteria set out in Table 1. Please note that expression of interest does not imply any obligation on the part of the Bank to include the candidate in the shortlist.
• A shortlist of individual consultants will be established at the closing date of submission of the Request for Expressions of Interest (REoI). Shortlisted consultants will be evaluated based on the following criteria as reflected in their Curriculum Vitae/resumes.

Duration of the Assignment and Remuneration

• This assignment will be undertaken within six (6) months. Thus, the Consultant shall execute all elements of this assignment during this period, effective from date of signing the contract.
• The Consultant will be engaged on full time basis for six (6) months effective date of signing the contract. The Consultant will work remotely but should be readily available for coordination with the Task Team.
• The successful candidate will be paid a lumpsum fee in line with the Bank’s guidelines for remuneration of individual consultants but commensurate with qualification for the task and satisfactory delivery of all the outputs.

Application Closing Date
13th February, 2023 at 17:00 (GMT)

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should submit their updated Curriculum Vitae (CV) using the template inside the PDF document and a cover letter, to make the case on their suitability for the position to: [email protected]

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Click here for the Job Description (PDF)

Evaluation Criteria

• General qualifications and adequacy for the assignment: 40%
• Experience in the specific assignment described in the Terms of Reference:40 %
• Experience of working in international development agencies:10 %
• Knowledge of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political landscape:10 %
• Total:100 %

Note: All questions relating to this assignment should be addressed to: [email protected] with copy to [email protected].