The World Bank Group has unveiled a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Nigeria covering 2026 to 2032 and approved a $1.25 billion Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration (NAIJA) Development Policy Financing (DPF), signalling renewed international confidence in the country’s ongoing economic reform programme.
The new strategy builds on what the World Bank described as the macroeconomic gains achieved through Nigeria’s recent reforms, including stronger economic growth, improved government revenues, higher foreign exchange reserves and growing investor confidence.
Under the six-year framework, the World Bank Group will focus on helping Nigeria translate macroeconomic stability into broad-based economic growth by accelerating private sector investment, improving productivity and creating jobs.
The CPF prioritises investments that expand infrastructure, strengthen human capital and improve the business environment. It aims to extend electricity access to 32 million Nigerians, provide broadband connectivity to 58 million people, improve health and nutrition services for 40 million people and support 9.5 million farmers through increased agricultural productivity.
World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, said the new framework reflects the institution’s long-term commitment to supporting Nigeria’s economic transformation through private sector-led growth.
“Our new Country Partnership Framework provides the strategy for how the World Bank Group will support Nigeria over the coming years, with a strong focus on helping to create more and better jobs, particularly by enabling private sector-led growth,” he said.
Verghis noted that while recent macroeconomic reforms had helped restore stability, sustaining growth and improving living standards would depend on addressing structural constraints that continue to limit investment and employment.
The $1.25 billion NAIJA Development Policy Financing will support a new phase of reforms designed to improve Nigeria’s competitiveness and attract greater domestic and foreign investment.
According to the World Bank, the operation will support reforms to deepen Nigeria’s capital markets, modernise regulations governing the digital economy and e-governance, accelerate electricity sector reforms, reduce trade barriers in line with ECOWAS and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) commitments, improve access to quality agricultural seeds and strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation.
The Bank said these reforms are intended to lower the cost of doing business, improve productivity and create conditions for sustained private sector expansion.
The financing complements the World Bank Group’s broader programme of investments across energy, agriculture, digital infrastructure, social protection and private sector development aimed at strengthening economic resilience and reducing poverty.
Ed Mountfield, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), said the reforms had opened new opportunities for investors, although investment risks remained.
He said MIGA would expand guarantees and political risk insurance under the new partnership framework to mobilise more private capital into strategic sectors, particularly infrastructure and financial services.
Similarly, IFC Divisional Director for Nigeria, Dahlia Khalifa, said Nigeria’s long-term economic prospects would depend on attracting investment, improving productivity and creating employment opportunities for its rapidly growing population.
She said the World Bank Group would work closely with the Nigerian government and the private sector to improve access to infrastructure and essential services while strengthening the environment for businesses to innovate, expand and compete.
The new Country Partnership Framework will serve as the World Bank Group’s principal engagement strategy with Nigeria through 2032, with job creation and private investment identified as the central drivers of inclusive and sustainable economic growth.
