• Launches new water masterplan 
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) pre­sided by President Goodluck Jonathan has approved a concession­ary loan of  $82 million (N13 billion) from the Japan In­ternational Development Agency (JICA) to assist Ni­geria in its fight against polio in the country.
It also announced approval of an updated National Water Resources Masterplan (2014-2030) to help Nigeria manage its water resources.
The council also was up­dated on the latest World Bank report, which puts the number of Nigerians living in poverty as a third of the population.
The Minister of Informa­tion, Labaran Maku , accom­panied by his Water Resources counterpart, Sarah Ochekpe , said this while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
Maku explained that the loan was at two percent inter­est rate and came handy at a time Nigeria had recorded about 50 per cent drop in polio cases over the last one year.
Ochekpe, explained that the masterplan would be imple­mented in three  stages span­ning 2014-2020, 2021-2015 and 2026-2030; and was de­signed to take into consider­ation the trend of global cli­mate change. Describing the masterplan as comprehensive, she explained that it prescribed among other things, funding methods, irrigation and drain­age systems, all in a bid to improve quality and access to water by Nigerians.
On the latest World Bank report, the President’s Chief Economic Adviser, Nwanze Okidigbe; explained that the report was cheering news be­cause it showed a significant drop in percentage and meant government policies in the last four years were yielding results.
Besides, it was a correction of the World Bank’s earlier re­port which had put the number of poor Nigerians at over 100 million, arrived at using out­dated data, a development that Nigeria had successfully chal­lenged by asking the Bank to use more recent and accurate data.
Okidigbe pointed out that the World Bank definition of poverty, being living on less than $1.25 (N195) per day, was simply inapplicable to 100 million Nigerians, and this was proved to be so by the Bank’s latest report which ad­opted more reliable statistics gathered between 2010 and now.
“Nigeria is making good strides. Poverty is decreas­ing”, he said.
Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, also report­ed that Nigeria’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) had been rated second best in the world, moving up nine places, in terms of transparency and at­traction from world investors.

FG approves $82m loan from Japan to fight polio