Nigeria Secures $1.25bn World Bank Loan Amid Debt Worries
The World Bank has approved a fresh $1.25bn loan for Nigeria under its Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration programme, pressing ahead with the facility despite months of public unease over the country’s swelling debt profile and repeated calls for the Federal Government to curb external borrowing.
The approval was announced in a statement issued by the World Bank on Wednesday, alongside the launch of a new Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria covering 2026 to 2032. The bank said the six-year framework sets out a strategy to create jobs at scale by unlocking private sector-led growth.
The bank said the NAIJA Development Policy Financing operation would support reforms aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s competitiveness, including deepening capital markets, modernising the regulatory framework for the digital economy and e-governance, advancing power sector reforms, lowering trade barriers in line with ECOWAS and AfCFTA commitments, improving access to quality agricultural seeds and strengthening domestic revenue mobilisation.
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, said the institution would focus on converting recent macroeconomic gains into improved living standards.
“The recent macroeconomic gains have been critical to help stabilise the economy. Translating improved macroeconomic conditions into better living standards will require addressing the structural constraints to spur private sector investment and job creation,” he said.
The facility carries weight beyond its size. It is the second-largest single World Bank facility secured by Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu, after the $1.5bn Reforms for Economic Stabilisation to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing approved in June 2024. The bank approved about $9.35bn in loans and credits for Nigeria between June 2023 and May 2026, spanning power, education, healthcare, agriculture, social protection and reform support. The latest approval lifts the cumulative figure to roughly $10.6bn under the current administration.
The backdrop is a debt burden that keeps climbing. According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s debt to the World Bank rose from $17.81bn at the end of 2024 to $19.89bn as of December 31, 2025, an increase of $2.08bn or 11.7 per cent. The World Bank accounted for 38.36 per cent of Nigeria’s total external debt stock of $51.86bn at the end of 2025. Total public debt stood at N159.28tn as of early 2026.
Concerns over the pace of borrowing have surfaced even within government. The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, earlier warned that Nigeria may decline World Bank arrangements if approval and disbursement processes suffer prolonged delays, stressing that the facilities were repayable loans, not grants.
The bank itself has flagged the stakes. In its programme documents, it noted that despite reforms since 2023, growth remains modest, per capita income is rising by less than 2 per cent, and 63 per cent of Nigerians, over 139 million people, remained in poverty in 2025. The bank assessed the overall risk of the operation as high, citing political and governance risks ahead of the 2027 elections, oil price vulnerability and possible election-related spending.
For the government, the loan represents continued reliance on multilateral finance to sustain a reform agenda targeting seven per cent growth. For its critics, it deepens a dependence whose dividends many Nigerians say they are yet to feel.