The World Bank has set a target of connecting 32 million Nigerians to electricity and providing 58 million more people with access to broadband internet under its new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Nigeria covering 2026 to 2032.
The framework also aims to support 9.5 million farmers through programmes designed to boost agricultural production, value addition and market access, while mobilising $4.1 billion in private capital for infrastructure and agribusiness.
Acting World Bank Country Director, Taimur Samad, presented the new CPF on Wednesday in Lagos at the Industrialisation and Competitiveness Forum organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
According to the World Bank, the framework is designed to create more and better private-sector jobs by strengthening competitiveness and economic growth, improving human capital, building resilience and mobilising private investment.
The institution said its priorities would include distributed renewable energy, broadband infrastructure, access to finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and agricultural value chains.
The framework’s fact sheet lists four major targets: 32 million people gaining access to electricity, 58 million additional people using broadband internet, 9.5 million farmers benefiting from improved production and market linkages, and $4.1 billion in private capital mobilised.
Under its competitiveness and growth objective, the World Bank is targeting a 30 per cent increase in Nigeria’s non-oil revenue-to-GDP ratio, $6 billion in private capital enabled and an additional 250,000 SMEs gaining access to financial services.
For human capital development, the framework targets 40 million beneficiaries of quality health, nutrition and population services, while 19.4 million students are expected to benefit from improved education.
It also aims to reduce by eight percentage points the proportion of children under five suffering from stunting.
The framework further targets 41 million additional beneficiaries of social safety-net programmes and 11.7 million people with enhanced resilience to climate-related risks.
The World Bank said the new strategy would concentrate its resources on fewer areas with the potential to deliver large-scale and measurable results.
It said its approach would place greater emphasis on job creation, private-sector-led growth and the mobilisation of private capital, with expanded support for renewable energy, digital infrastructure, MSME financing and agribusiness.
Among the planned interventions is a $750 million World Bank programme, alongside a $200 million International Finance Corporation facility, to expand distributed renewable energy and improve electricity access.
The framework also includes a $500 million programme for resilient digital infrastructure and another $500 million pipeline programme focused on sustainable agricultural value chains.
The new CPF builds on the World Bank Group’s existing partnership with Nigeria. According to the presentation, the previous framework provided more than $12 billion in support for national programmes, with significant emphasis on state-level and results-based financing.
The World Bank currently has an active $15.9 billion portfolio comprising 30 projects in Nigeria. Two-thirds of the portfolio is implemented through national programmes at the state level, while half uses results-based financing.
The presentation also showed that the World Bank increased its average loan size from $415 million in 2021 to $580 million in 2025, while reducing the number of active projects from 36 to 30.
The new framework provides for closer collaboration among the World Bank, IFC and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, with annual business planning intended to allow greater flexibility in responding to Nigeria’s development needs.
The World Bank said it would continue expanding its engagement with state governments while maintaining its focus on resilience, climate adaptation, gender and support for conflict-affected areas.
Other key pathways identified under the framework include macroeconomic stability and governance, improving the business environment, early childhood development, social protection, human capital and skills development, digital transformation, power and energy access, climate resilience, agriculture and access to finance.
