Under its new Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria, which runs from 2026 to 2032, the World Bank aims to connect 32 million Nigerians to power and give 58 million additional people access to broadband internet.
The World Bank Group intends to raise $4.1 billion in private finance for infrastructure and agribusiness, and the framework also aims to help 9.5 million farmers through initiatives aimed at enhancing agricultural output, value addition, and market connections.
Taimur Samad, the World Bank’s Acting Country Director, gave a presentation on the CPF on Wednesday in Lagos at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s Industrialization & Competitiveness Forum.
By enhancing the environment for growth and competitiveness, unlocking a more productive and healthy population, strengthening human and environmental resilience, and optimizing private investments for infrastructure and agribusiness, the new framework aims to generate more and better private-sector jobs.
According to the World Bank, the CPF would prioritize the creation of jobs, growth driven by the private sector, and the mobilization of private capital. Its programs will span distributed renewable energy, internet infrastructure, financing for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, and agribusiness.
“32 million provided with electricity (M300),” according to the fact sheet included in the framework. 58 million additional people are utilizing digital broadband internet. Activities that enhance output, value-addition, and market connections assist 9.5 million farmers (AgriConnect). $4.1 billion in private funding was raised.
The framework highlights increased competitiveness and growth as one of its main outcomes and establishes a more general goal of producing more and better private-sector jobs.
The World Bank’s competitiveness and growth objective calls for a 30% rise in the non-oil revenue-to-GDP ratio, $6 billion in private capital enabled, and an extra 250,000 SMEs utilizing banking services.
In terms of human capital, the framework aims to reduce the percentage of stunted children under five by eight percentage points, support 19.4 million students with improved education, and provide 40 million recipients of high-quality health, nutrition, and population services.
Additionally, it targets 11.7 million individuals with increased resistance to climate hazards and 41 million extra recipients of social safety-net programs.
According to the World Bank, its new strategy will focus assistance on a smaller number of areas that can yield significant and quantifiable outcomes.
“A focus on jobs aligned with the World Bank Group Job Creation Strategy” is stated in the framework, which also specifies that the organization would intensify private sector-led growth and private capital mobilization.
Additionally, it lists internet infrastructure, distributed renewable energy, MSME financing access, and agribusiness as areas that require more assistance.
The framework outlines a $200 million IFC facility and a $750 million World Bank initiative for distributed renewable energy to expand access to power. It also includes a $500 million pipeline program for sustainable agriculture value chains and a $500 million program for robust digital infrastructure.
The World Bank Group’s current relationship with Nigeria is strengthened by the new CPF. According to the presentation, the previous CPF supported national programs with over $12 billion, with a focus on state-level and results-based finance.
Currently, the World Bank has a $15.9 billion active portfolio of 30 projects in Nigeria, half of which are funded by results-based financing and two-thirds of which are carried out through national programs at the state level.
According to the presentation, the World Bank reduced the number of projects from 36 to 30 while increasing the average loan size from $415 million in 2021 to $580 million in 2025.
The World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and Multilateral Investment Guaranty Agency can now work together more closely thanks to the new structure, which also offers flexible annual business planning.
The World Bank stated that it will keep expanding its cooperation with governments and upholding its emphasis on resilience, which includes work in conflict-affected areas, gender, and climate adaption.
The CPF’s pathways for attaining the desired results include macroeconomic stability and governance, the business-enabling environment, early childhood development, social protection, human capital and skills development, digital transformation, power and energy access, climate resilience, agriculture, and access to finance.
