The Nigerian Government is engaging the World Bank for two fresh loans totalling $580 million, which are expected to be approved in March 2025.
According to the information obtained from the website of the World Bank on Wednesday by Punch newspaper, the funding is aimed at improving nutrition and education initiatives, with two projects currently listed in the bank’s pipeline.
The projects, Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 and HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All, are expected to receive final approvals on March 27 and March 20, 2025, respectively.
The HOPE for Quality Basic Education for All programme has a commitment of $552.18m, with $500m coming from the World Bank and an additional $54m from other sources.
The initiative is designed to tackle Nigeria’s education crisis, where over 17 million children remain out of school.
It is expected to enhance early childhood education, primary and junior secondary schooling, as well as expand access to learning resources.
The programme will be implemented by the Federal Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and the Universal Basic Education Commission.
The project remains in the ‘Concept Review’ phase, requiring further consultations before being finalised.
According to the report, the second loan project, the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project, is expected to secure $80m from the World Bank to address malnutrition and food insecurity.
The report observed that $232m was approved on June 27, 2018, for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria.
It added that the initial loan project was faced with a number of challenges, leading to some changes, including the cancellation of some amount from the total approved loan.
It, however, noted that the Nigerian Government is currently engaging the World Bank to get an extra loan for a second part of this project and that the approval day for the second part was moved from February 20, 2025, to March 20.
GIK/APA