Extended Term Consultant (ETC) at World Bank

Job #: req782
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Sector: Economics
Grade: EC2
Term Duration: 1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment

Description

• The World Bank Country Office in Nigeria is seeking a highly organized, energized and experienced professional, capable of operating effectively in a very demanding and fast-paced environment to serve as a consultant in the Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment (MTI) Global Practice on an Extended-Term Consultancy contract spanning one year (with possibility of extension for another year).
• Nigeria has one of the biggest portfolio of the World Bank Group in the Africa region. In this context, the MTI Global Practice has an expanding and critical work program (both analytical and operational), in helping the WBG meet the development needs of the country, in a particularly dynamic environment.
• The Consultant will work in the MTI Global Practice team for Nigeria (comprised of local and international economists based in Abuja and Washington, DC) to provide substantive research, analytical and statistical assistance in support of the work program.
• In particular, s/he will support the implementation of the Nigeria Subnational Fiscal Management Support task, which aims to establish a strong evidence base to support the Bank’s policy dialogue with the Government of Nigeria (GoN) on strengthening subnational fiscal management; as well as support the design and implementation of Bank operations aiming to strengthen subnational fiscal management and performance, including the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) project as well as other state-level operations.

Team and Reporting

• The selected candidate will work closely with the Nigeria MTI team and in particular the task team leaders of the subnational fiscal work program.
• S/he will be supervised day-to-day by the task team leaders and will formally report to the MTI Practice Manager.
• S/he will and liaise with other members of the country team as needed.

Roles and Responsibilities
The Consultant will be involved in the execution of the following tasks and will be expected to produce deliverables with limited supervision and guidance:

• Development of the Bank’s subnational fiscal and debt database with more recent and additional state data and development of a local government module;
• Aggregate subnational fiscal and debt analyses, including fiscal projections and simulations, and preparation of relevant write-ups (in form of technical notes, policy notes, presentations, reports) using the Bank’s databases and other data sources;
• Analysis of state and local government revenue collection, including the development and application of a methodology to estimate Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) potential in individual states, in collaboration with the Nigerian Governor’s Forum (NGF) secretariat and respective state governments;
• Analysis of intergovernmental fiscal and administrative arrangements between state and local governments to better understand the roles and responsibilities of local governments in fiscal management;
• Analytical support to MTI task teams in the preparation and oversight of sub-national lending operations;
• Analytical support to other workstreams in the Nigeria MTI work program which covers the subnational tier of government; for example, the Domestic Resource Mobilization engagement and macro-fiscal monitoring

Selection Criteria

• Minimum Master degree in economics, public finance or other relevant fields
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience as a research analyst and economist
• Excellent understanding of general macroeconomic and fiscal issues
• Excellent analytical skills, including econometrics and other quantitative methods
• Proven ability to develop and maintain databases, construct economic and fiscal models, conduct economic and fiscal projections and simulations, conduct policy-relevant analyses; and present analyses in a format relevant to the audience;
• Knowledge of the Nigerian economy, fiscal federalism structure and data sources, and previous experience of working on Nigeria a strong advantage
• Proven capacity to network and build confidence with key source data counterparts in a challenging environment;
• Highly computer literate with demonstrable proficiency in Microsoft Word, Powerpoint and advanced Excel skills
• Working knowledge of statistical and econometric packages such as E-Views, STATA, or similar
• Ability to work flexibly on a range of assignments, and to work under pressure to produce good-quality outputs in response to tight deadlines;
• Strong inter-personal and team skills with ability to develop effective relations within and outside the organization;
• Good judgment and a high degree of commitment to the job.
• Fluency in spoken English required with excellent written English skills.