Nigeria is in advanced discussions with the World Bank over a proposed $1.25 billion loan facility aimed at supporting economic reforms, job creation, and investment competitiveness, according to official documents reviewed by local media.
The proposed facility, titled “Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration,” is expected to finance ongoing reforms designed to stabilize Africa’s largest economy while boosting private-sector growth and employment generation.
According to the document, the loan has moved beyond the concept and appraisal stages and is currently at the World Bank’s decision-meeting phase — one of the final steps before presentation to the institution’s Board of Executive Directors for approval. The facility is expected to be considered on June 26, 2026.
If approved, the financing package would become one of Nigeria’s largest recent World Bank facilities, following the $1.5 billion “Reforms for Economic Stabilisation to Enable Transformation Development Policy Financing” approved in June 2024.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria is listed as the borrower, while the Federal Ministry of Finance will serve as the implementing agency.
According to Channels Television,Nigeria has increasingly relied on multilateral financing to support fiscal reforms, infrastructure investment, social protection programs, and economic stabilization efforts amid ongoing macroeconomic pressures, currency volatility, and rising debt servicing costs.
Data from government records show Nigeria’s external debt stood at approximately $51.86 billion as of December 31, 2025, while total public debt had risen to about $110.97 billion.
The latest proposed financing adds to several major World Bank-backed programmes approved for Nigeria over the past two years across sectors including power, healthcare, education, agriculture, renewable energy, MSME financing, and social protection.
These include the $2.25 billion RESET and ARMOR reform financing approved in 2024, alongside $1.57 billion for the HOPE and SPIN programmes and an additional $1.08 billion for education and resilience initiatives approved in 2025.
The negotiations also come amid growing concerns within the Nigerian government over delays in the approval and disbursement of multilateral loans.
Last week, Accountant-General of the Federation Dr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi warned that Nigeria could reconsider future World Bank borrowing arrangements if approval timelines continue to extend beyond six months.
Speaking during a meeting with a World Bank delegation in Abuja, Ogunjimi stressed that Nigeria expects faster processing of financing requests given that the facilities are repayable loans rather than grants.
“If approvals take more than six months, the Nigerian Government may no longer honour such arrangements,” he said, according to a statement from the Office of the Accountant-General.
The Accountant-General added that prolonged delays could disrupt project execution timelines, fiscal planning, and broader development objectives, urging the World Bank to accelerate disbursement procedures for ongoing and future projects.
The proposed loan highlights Nigeria’s continued balancing act between securing external financing for economic reforms and managing rising public debt obligations amid efforts to stabilize growth and attract investment.
Source: Channels Television