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The World Bank Group has officially approved a $1.25 billion financing package for Nigeria under its new Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration (NAIJA) programme. The funding was announced as the Bank launched its six-year Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Nigeria, covering 2026–2032 and designed to unlock private-sector-led growth and address critical infrastructure constraints. 

According to the World Bank, the NAIJA operation aims to deliver immediate structural improvements. The programme targets expanding electricity access to 32 million Nigerians, providing broadband connectivity to 58 million people, delivering improved nutrition and health services to 40 million citizens, and directly supporting 9.5 million domestic farmers. 

To ease food price pressures, the facility supports key regulatory adjustments, including improved access to high-quality agricultural seeds and reduced regional trade barriers, in line with Nigeria's ECOWAS and AfCFTA commitments. 

The fresh inflow arrives amid heightened public scrutiny of the Federal Government's mounting external obligations. Newly released data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) shows that Nigeria’s debt to the World Bank rose from $17.81 billion at the end of 2024 to $19.89 billion at the end of 2025, a sharp 11.7% increase over the past year.

A detailed breakdown of the country’s liabilities to the Bretton Woods institution through its two arms shows that concessional loans from the International Development Association (IDA) rose to $18.51 billion, while outstanding debt to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) edged up to $1.38 billion. Consequently, the World Bank has cemented its position as Nigeria’s largest single external creditor, now accounting for 38.36% of the nation's total foreign debt stock, which stood at $51.86 billion at the end of 2025. 

This latest $1.25 billion facility is the second-largest single World Bank loan secured under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, surpassed only by the $1.5 billion macroeconomic stabilisation credit approved in June 2024.

Defending the intervention, Mathew Verghis, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, emphasised the need to translate recent macroeconomic gains into real-world benefits. "The recent macroeconomic gains have been critical in helping to stabilise the economy," Verghis noted. "Translating improved macroeconomic conditions into better living standards will require addressing structural constraints to spur private-sector investment and job creation."

However, the rapid accumulation of debt continues to provoke fierce backlash from economic analysts and civil society groups. Critics note that despite aggressive foreign borrowing and painful fiscal adjustments – including the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the Naira – ordinary Nigerians are grappling with record-high inflation and a severe cost-of-living crisis, with little evidence of the promised job creation.