Barely days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu triumphantly announced that Nigeria had met its 2025 revenue target ahead of schedule and would no longer rely on borrowing from local banks, the Federal Government has opened negotiations with the World Bank for a fresh loan of $1.75 billion.
The new loan request, confirmed by the World Bank’s project pipeline, will be spread across four major initiatives:
Agriculture: $500 million for the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project.
Digital Infrastructure: $500 million for the Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth initiative.
Health Security: $250 million for the Health Security Programme in Western and Central Africa, Nigeria – Phase II.
SME Finance: $500 million for the Fostering Inclusive Finance for MSMEs in Nigeria project.
Approval dates for the projects range between September and December 2025.
President Tinubu, speaking in Abuja last week, had declared that Nigeria’s fiscal performance had surpassed expectations, with ₦20.59 trillion in revenue collected by August 2025, representing a 40.5% increase compared to 2024. He assured Nigerians that the government would not be borrowing “a dime” from domestic banks, a message that was quickly celebrated as proof of fiscal discipline.
However, the revelation of a fresh World Bank loan request has triggered sharp reactions. The African Democratic Congress (ADC) faulted Tinubu’s claim, arguing that despite the impressive revenue performance, the country still faces a ₦21.22 trillion shortfall against the ₦41.81 trillion budgeted revenue for 2025. The party also pointed to recent bond auctions by the Debt Management Office, and the National Assembly’s approval of over $21 billion in external loans, as evidence that borrowing has not stopped.
Economists are equally divided. While some argue that concessional loans from development partners like the World Bank provide cheaper financing for critical infrastructure, others warn that Nigeria’s ballooning debt—already over ₦149 trillion and projected to hit ₦180 trillion—is unsustainable. Critics note that debt servicing has increasingly crowded out capital spending, limited job creation, and contributed to inflationary pressures.
Social media has also been abuzz with frustration. Many Nigerians expressed disbelief, questioning how the government could claim to have achieved financial stability while still piling on new loans. A Nairaland user summed it up: “I thought BAT said the economy is stable and Nigeria doesn’t need any loan again. Why request $1.75 billion now?”
As of March 2025, Nigeria owes the World Bank $18.23 billion, representing 39.7% of the country’s external debt and 81.2% of multilateral loans. The fresh $1.75 billion will push those figures even higher.
With rising food prices, continued fuel subsidy removal pains, and widespread hardship, questions linger: Will this loan truly deliver relief through agriculture, health, and SME financing, or will it deepen Nigeria’s debt trap, burdening future generations?
For now, the government insists the loans are targeted investments to drive growth. But the contradiction between Tinubu’s promise of “no more borrowing” and the reality of fresh World Bank loans has cast fresh doubts on the administration’s fiscal credibility.
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