The bank’s new six-year Nigeria strategy also aims to support 9.5 million farmers and unlock $4.1bn in private investment for infrastructure and agribusiness…….
The World Bank has unveiled an ambitious six-year plan for Nigeria that aims to expand electricity and broadband access to millions of people while attracting billions of dollars in private investment into infrastructure and agriculture.
Under its 2026–2032 Country Partnership Framework, the bank plans to connect 32 million Nigerians to electricity and provide an additional 58 million people with access to broadband internet.
The strategy also targets 9.5 million farmers, who are expected to benefit from programmes focused on improving agricultural production, adding value to farm products and connecting producers to markets.
Beyond direct development programmes, the World Bank Group intends to mobilise $4.1bn in private capital for infrastructure and agribusiness over the period.
The framework was presented on Wednesday in Lagos by the World Bank’s Acting Country Director, Taimur Samad, at the Industrialisation & Competitiveness Forum organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group.
Jobs at the centre of new strategy
The World Bank said the new framework is designed around one major objective: creating more and better jobs by making Nigeria a more competitive destination for private investment.
Its strategy focuses on four broad areas — strengthening the environment for private-sector growth, improving human capital, building resilience among people and ecosystems, and using private capital to close infrastructure and agribusiness gaps.
The bank’s targets include increasing Nigeria’s non-oil revenue-to-GDP ratio by 30 per cent, enabling $6bn in private capital and expanding access to financial services for an additional 250,000 small and medium-sized enterprises.
The focus on private-sector growth comes as Nigeria continues to grapple with unemployment, infrastructure shortages and the need to diversify an economy that has historically depended heavily on oil revenues.
Millions targeted for power and internet access
Electricity remains one of the biggest areas of focus under the new partnership.
The World Bank is targeting 32 million additional people for electricity access, with distributed renewable energy expected to play a major role.
The framework includes a $750m World Bank programme, alongside a $200m IFC facility, aimed at expanding distributed renewable energy and improving access to electricity.
Digital infrastructure is another major component.
The bank plans to extend broadband access to 58 million more people through a programme focused on building resilient digital infrastructure. A separate $500m programme is included in the framework for this purpose.
The expansion is expected to support businesses, improve digital services and widen economic opportunities for Nigerians who remain underserved by existing connectivity infrastructure.
Agriculture gets major push
Agriculture is also positioned as a key driver of the World Bank’s jobs and growth agenda.
The framework targets 9.5 million farmers through initiatives designed to increase productivity, strengthen value chains and improve access to markets.
A further $500m pipeline programme is planned to support sustainable agricultural value chains.
Rather than focusing only on farm production, the World Bank said its approach will extend across the agricultural value chain, potentially creating opportunities in processing, logistics, manufacturing and market access.
Health, education and social protection
The new strategy also sets out extensive targets for Nigeria’s human capital development.
The World Bank plans to reach 40 million people through health, nutrition and population services, while 19.4 million students are expected to benefit from improved education support.
Another target is to reduce the proportion of children under five suffering from stunting by eight percentage points.
The framework further aims to extend social safety-net programmes to 41 million additional beneficiaries and strengthen the resilience of 11.7 million people to climate-related risks.
The emphasis reflects the World Bank’s view that stronger economic growth will depend not only on infrastructure and investment but also on a healthier, better-educated and more resilient population.
World Bank deepens Nigeria engagement
The new framework builds on the bank’s existing programmes in Nigeria.
According to the presentation, the previous country partnership framework delivered more than $12bn in support for national programmes, with significant emphasis on state-level initiatives and results-based financing.
The World Bank currently has an active $15.9bn portfolio covering 30 projects in Nigeria.
About two-thirds of the portfolio is implemented through national programmes at the state level, while roughly half uses results-based financing.
The bank has also increased its average loan size, from $415m in 2021 to $580m in 2025, even as the number of active projects fell from 36 to 30.
Focus shifts towards bigger, measurable results
The World Bank said the new strategy would concentrate its resources on fewer areas where its interventions can deliver larger and measurable results.
The institution plans to deepen collaboration among the World Bank, International Finance Corporation and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, while using annual business planning to adjust its support as Nigeria’s needs evolve.
Its priorities include macroeconomic stability, governance, a stronger business environment, early childhood development, social protection, skills development, digital transformation, energy access, climate resilience, agriculture and access to finance.
The bank also said it would continue working closely with state governments while maintaining attention on climate adaptation, gender-related priorities and communities affected by conflict.
With electricity, digital connectivity, agriculture, jobs and private investment all built into the new framework, the World Bank’s 2026–2032 partnership represents a broad attempt to tackle several of Nigeria’s biggest economic constraints at the same time.
The real test, however, will be how quickly the ambitious targets translate into actual connections, productive farms, new businesses, jobs and investment on the ground.
