World Bank Disburses $215 Million to FG to Share to Nigerians as IMF Confirms Debt Repayment

• The World Bank has released additional funds to Nigeria under the National Social Safety Net Programme Scale Up
• Information from the World Bank shows that the total disbursement increased from $315 million in 2023 to $530 million in 2025
• The $800 million facility was designed to provide conditional cash transfers to Nigeria’s vulnerable citizens

Legit.ng’s Pascal Oparada has reported on tech, energy, stocks, investment and the economy for over a decade.

The World Bank has disbursed additional funds to Nigeria under the $800 million National Social Safety Net Programme-Scale Up, increasing the total disbursed funds to $530 million.

Data from the World Bank’s official website showed that the total disbursement rose from $315 million in 2023 to $530 million in 2025, showing fresh inflows for the palliative scheme.

Nigeria moves to share $800m to 15 households

The World Bank data showed that the latest disbursement was recent, despite the exact day not being reflected on the global lender’s website.

The $800 million facility was designed to provide conditional cash transfers to Nigeria’s vulnerable citizens, easing the impact of President Tinubu’s economic reforms.

The scheme was initially structured to deliver N5,000 monthly to households; however, due to changes by Tinubu’s government, that payment was updated to N25,000 monthly for three months, aiming to reach 15 million households.

Punch reports that in October 2023, the global lender disbursed $300 million and $15 million to Nigeria under the scheme, bringing the total release to $315 million.

Fresh data on Thursday, May 8, 2025, showed that an additional $215 million has been disbursed, bringing the total to $350 million and reducing the amount available for drawdown to about $226.73 million.

Nigeria pays interest on IMF loan

The data means that 66.25% of the loan has been released, with about 33.75% remaining.

Despite getting the bank’s approval since 2023, the palliative’s implementation experienced a setback for almost 17 months.

According to reports, while Nigeria awaited the fund’s release from the World Bank for the National Social Safety Net Programme, findings showed that the country accumulated and paid interest charges amounting to over $6.18 million.

World Bank data shows that Nigeria paid interest charges under the financial agreement in multiple tranches, including substantial payments in July 2024.

Nigeria paid three separate charges amounting to $822,259, $495,603, and another $495,603, bringing the January 2025 total to $1.81 million.

Reports say further interest was paid on July 15, 2024, when $5.36 million was received from four separate interest payments.

According to available records, the interest charges were paid as a significant part of the loan remained unreleased.

FG deploys NIN and BVN for palliative sharing

Findings revealed that he delays were due to administrative hassles, political transitions, and scandals rocking the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

Subsequently, the Nigerian government partnered with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to enforce beneficiary registration with BVN and NIN to boost controls and disbursement.

IMF confirms Nigeria’s loan repayment

The development comes as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that Nigeria has repaid the $3.4 billion COVID-19 Financial Support received under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) received in April 2020.

The repayment led to the removal of Nigeria from the IMF's list of debtor countries, following the full settlement of its outstanding credit obligations to the Fund. 

There have been mixed reactions to the claim of full repayment of the IMF loan, which the presidency has widely celebrated.

World Bank approves 2 new loans for Nigeria

Legit.ng earlier reported that the World Bank was set to approve new loans to Nigeria totalling $632 million on Monday, March 31, 2025, bringing the total of World Bank loans under Tinubu to $9.25 billion.

The loans would support key areas such as nutrition improvement and quality basic education.

Data from the World Bank website on Sunday, March 30, 2025, showed that the two loans included $80 million for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria 2.0 project and $552 million for the HOPE scheme.

Source: Legit.ng