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Nearly a year after approving a fresh package of loans for Nigeria, the World Bank has yet to release a single dollar of the $2 billion pledged — and now the institution is offering its explanation.
The holdup affects six projects agreed between September and December last year. Together, they account for nearly half of the $4.25 billion in loan commitments signed for Nigeria in 2024.
World Bank spokesman Mansir Nasir said the gap is procedural. “The total amount of the project is not disbursed as a one-off, but rather in installments depending on the financing instruments,” he said. He added that conditions tied to each project must first be met before funds are released.
Projects are financed through different structures, such as Investment Project Financing (IPF) or Program-for-Results (PforR). Each comes with its own milestones, timelines, and specific disbursement values. “If you look at the portal, you will see the specific disbursement timelines and values,” Nasir said.
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The bank’s online loan portal shows 15 projects approved for Nigeria between June 2023 and August 2025, totaling $8.40 billion (₦12.89 trillion). At the official exchange rate of ₦1,535.93 per dollar as of August 11, the commitments include $1.95 billion from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which lends on commercial terms, and $6.50 billion from the International Development Association (IDA), which provides concessional finance to low-income countries.
One of the pending loans — $500 million for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation Project — was signed on September 26, 2024, with a total project cost of $700 million. The contract lists the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation as the implementing agency and sets December 31, 2029 as the completion date.
The undistributed funds form part of a broader lending pipeline that covers energy, education, healthcare, rural infrastructure, and governance.
