PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu’s administration has borrowed $3.754 billion from the World Bank alone in 2025, 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 has had 11 big projects for Nigeria this 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 this year is a $1 billion credit facility for ‘Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration.’ The loan will be approved on December 18, 2025. Also to be approved in December 2025 are $500 million for ‘Fostering Inclusive Finance for MSMEs in Nigeria (FINCLUDE) Project‘ and $6.8 million for ‘CBN Technical Assistance (TA) Facility.’ While the former will be approved on December 18, the latter will be sanctioned by the global lender on the following day (December 19).
In March 28 and 31, the World Bank had approved $500,000 loan for Community Action (for) Resilience and Economic Stimulus Programand two other credit lines totalling $800,000 and $552.179 million respectively.
The $800,000 facility was for the acceleration of nutrition results 2.0, while the $552.179 million was for the improvement of quality basic education for Nigerians.
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On June 24, the World Bank approved $68 million for Nigeria’s Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement Project (SPESSE). In August, Nigeria obtained $300 million for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project, with the nation securing another $500 million loan to improve human capital opportunities for the people.
In October 2025, Nigeria got a credit line of $500 million from the World Bank to build a resilient digital infrastructure that could bolster the nation’s growth.
Tinubu’s growing loans
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.
His government held a $2.35 billion Eurobond sale last Wednesday to raise funds to meet several needs. It was oversubscribed and attracted a record $13 billion orders mostly from international investors who wanted to participate in the market. However, a Eurobond is a debt instrument that pays principal and interest in a currency different from the currency of the country where it originated, according to Investopedia. Hence, the sale raised the nation’s external debt stock.
As of the time former President Muhammadu Buhari left office on May 29, 2023, the nation’s total public debt stood at N87.379 trillion, according to the DMO. However, with President Tinubu coming to power that same day, Nigeria’s debt profile rose thereafter, hitting N152.398 trillion as of June 2025, the data reveal.
This means that President Tinubu’s administration racked up N65.019 trillion between June 2023 and June 2025, marking 43 percent of the current public debt stock.
However, the figure does not include the recent World Bank debts.
More loans
The Nigerian government is in advanced talks with China’s Export-Import Bank for a $2 billion loan to construct a new electricity super grid to address Nigeria’s long-standing power supply challenges.
According to Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, “It’s part of plans to decentralise power generation in Nigeria and get the heavy commercial users that left the power grid because of its unreliability to return.”
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Bloomberg reported that the minister’s team confirmed that negotiations with China’s Exim Bank were progressing, while the financing for the super grid had already received cabinet approval.
Just recently, President Bola Tinubu asked the National Assembly to approve plans to raise $2.35 billion in external loans to part-finance the 2025 budget deficit and refinance Nigeria’s maturing Eurobonds, with another request to issue a $500 million sovereign Sukuk to fund infrastructure.
According to the president, the $2.35 billion borrowing was made up of new external loans of N1.843 trillion (about $1.229 billion at N1,500/$), which would help to finance the 2025 Appropriation Act and $1.118 billion to refinance Eurobonds issued in 2018 – due to mature in November 2025.
