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The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved $150 million line of credit (LOC) to United Bank for Africa (UBA), the Pan-African financial services group and one of Nigeria's largest banks.

According to a statement released on Wednesday by the AfDB, UBA will use the LOC to finance infrastructure development in Nigeria, particularly in the power sector.

The AfDB said poor access to electricity is a major constraint for Nigeria’s economic diversification and inclusive growth. Nigeria's power generation has dropped from a peak generation level of about 5,070 MW in February this year to below 2,000 MW due to the destruction of oil and gas installations by militants in the Niger Delta region. With a huge financing gap in the power sector, AfDB said the credit will enable UBA to support infrastructure development in the sector.  

UBA will also leverage its wide brand network to scale up lending to SMEs and women-owned enterprises in both urban and rural areas. AfDB also said the financing will help to create jobs and promote inclusive growth by stimulating various sectors such as manufacturing, construction, agriculture, education and services.

AfDB, which is Africa's leading development finance institution, said it provided emergency liquidity facilities to address the UBA’s liquidity constraints in 2009, which helped trade finance and other lending activities of UBA.

UBA operates in a total of 19 African countries whilst providing a wide range of products and services. The bank is one of the leading financial institutions that support various infrastructure projects in Nigeria, especially in the power, telecom, and transport sectors as well social infrastructure such as hospital and education facilities. The bank received the African Investor (Ai) Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year Award in 2015. The bank has more than 450 branches in Nigeria and supports 3,700 SMEs.

In April, UBA reported that its after-tax profit rose marginally by 0.18 percent to N16.98 billion in the first quarter of 2016 compared with N16.96 billion reported in Q1 2015. Meanwhile, total assets declined by 0.69 percent from N2.75 trillion in Q1 2015 to N2.73 trillion in Q1 2016.