THE World Bank is preparing to approve 3 funding facilities for Nigeria between March 26 and 27, 2026, targeted at boosting investments, jobs, sustainable agricultural value chains and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) technical assistance.
According to the World Bank projects for 2025 seen by Economy Post, one of the 3 projects is entitled, ‘Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration,’ which is targeted at supporting the Nigerian government’s efforts to expand access to financial credit and digital services, while lowering prices, enhancing diversification and boosting agricultural productivity. The global lender will be extending a $1 billion credit to Nigeria in this respect.
This will be approved on March 27, and will be implemented by the Federal Ministry of Finance. On the same day, the World Bank will also be approving a $6.8 million facility for the CBN. The global lender said this facility will be designed to catalyse the integration of advanced tools and data science into the CBN’s regulatory and supervisory processes.
“It aims to address both persistent and emerging challenges in Nigeria’s dynamic financial landscape, while enhancing understanding of payment and remittance systems.”
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The World Bank further explained that the project will focus its interventions on two components. Component 1 focuses on technology and data for enhanced supervisory and regulatory capabilities through deployment of tailored Supervisory and Regulatory Technology (SupTech and RegTech) solution(s) to improve compliance outcomes, ease regulatory burden and streamline reporting processes.
On the other hand, Component 2 will focus on tools for modernisation of payment and remittance systems to enhance reliability and safety, while harnessing innovation. “Key activities include conducting annual remittance household surveys to deepen understanding of informal flows, explore digital solutions to attract informal remittances into formal channels, development of an upgraded and integrated solution for accurate and real-time capture by CBN of all FX flows including remittances, and improving balance of payments accounting and reporting.” This project will be implemented by the CBN.
Earlier on March 26, the World Bank will lend $50 million to Nigeria for a project entitled, ‘Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth.’ The project aims to address critical challenges that affect competitiveness and resilience of agricultural value-chains, while stifling the prospects for value-added growth and job creation.
“The proposed project will therefore focus on interventions that directly or indirectly contribute towards Nigeria’s agricultural sector modernization, productivity and value-added growth, including improved food and nutrition security in line with the country’s Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP), National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP). Nigeria’s priorities as highlighted in these policy documents is to achieve self-sufficiency in key commodities, transform agriculture into a business-oriented sector, and ensure food security, while also promoting sustainable income and job growth. This operation will also be aligned to the Bank’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) as well as the recent aspirations highlighted in the Global Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) Program and the Mission Agri-connect,” the World Bank noted.
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The implementing agency is the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, which will also include participating states. The World Bank had earlier expressed interest in supporting Nigeria’s efforts to rebuild and upgrade critical road infrastructure, as the Nigerian government sought external financing to bridge funding gaps in the sector.
World Bank’s 2025 loans to Nigeria
In 2025, the Bola Tinubu’s administration borrowed $3.754 billion from the World Bank alone, signifying the government’s rising growing appetite for foreign loans.
According to Economy Post‘s analysis from the World Bank’s projects for Nigeria, the global lender had 11 big projects for Nigeria last year, covering issues from sustainable agriculture and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to digital infrastructire and nutrition improvement.
The biggest loan from the World Bank to Nigeria last year was a $1 billion credit facility for ‘Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration.’ The loan was approved on December 18, 2025. Also approved in December 2025 were $500 million for ‘Fostering Inclusive Finance for MSMEs in Nigeria (FINCLUDE) Project‘ and $6.8 million for ‘CBN Technical Assistance (TA) Facility.’
Economy Post had reported that President Tinubu government’s loans constituted 43 percent of Nigeria’s total public debt, which stood at N152.398 trillion as of June 2025, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO) data. His administration’s debt ratio will likely rise by the time Nigeria’s debt stock for September 2025 is released by the DMO, Economy Post can confirm.
