Six-year framework to focus on private investment, job creation and infrastructure expansion
The World Bank Group has launched a new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Nigeria covering 2026 to 2032 and approved a $1.25 billion Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration (NAIJA) Development Policy Financing (DPF), deepening its support for reforms aimed at accelerating private investment, job creation and inclusive economic growth.
The new framework, unveiled on Wednesday, will serve as the World Bank Group’s principal engagement strategy with Nigeria over the next six years, guiding its financing, advisory services, guarantees and private sector investments across key sectors of the economy.
According to the World Bank, the strategy builds on macroeconomic gains recorded following recent economic reforms, including stronger economic growth, higher government revenues, increased foreign exchange reserves and improved investor confidence. The institution said the next phase of its engagement would focus on translating those gains into broad-based improvements in employment, productivity and living standards through private sector-led growth.
The CPF aims to expand electricity access to 32 million Nigerians, provide broadband connectivity to 58 million people, improve health and nutrition services for 40 million people and support 9.5 million farmers through initiatives designed to raise agricultural productivity. It also seeks to strengthen human capital while expanding access to energy, digital infrastructure and other critical services needed to stimulate private investment.
“Our new Country Partnership Framework provides the strategy for how the World Bank Group will support Nigeria over the coming years, with a strong focus on helping to create more and better jobs, particularly by enabling private sector-led growth,” World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Mathew Verghis, said.
Verghis said recent macroeconomic reforms had helped stabilise the economy but noted that improving living standards would require addressing structural constraints that continue to limit private investment and job creation.
Alongside the framework, the World Bank approved the $1.25 billion NAIJA Development Policy Financing operation to support a new phase of policy and institutional reforms.
Unlike project financing, the Development Policy Financing supports government reforms rather than specific infrastructure projects. According to the World Bank, the operation is designed to strengthen the foundations for growth and competitiveness by improving the policy environment for businesses and investors.
The reforms supported under the programme include measures to deepen Nigeria’s capital markets, modernise the regulatory framework for the digital economy and e-governance, advance electricity sector reforms to accelerate electrification, reduce trade barriers in line with Nigeria’s commitments under ECOWAS and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), improve access to quality agricultural seeds and strengthen domestic revenue mobilisation.
The World Bank said the financing forms part of a broader package of support combining policy reforms with investments in energy, digital infrastructure, agriculture, private sector development and social protection to strengthen economic resilience, encourage investment and reduce poverty.
Ed Mountfield, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), said Nigeria’s reform programme had created new opportunities for private investment but that risks remained.
He said MIGA would expand the use of guarantees and political risk insurance under the new framework to mobilise greater private capital into priority sectors, particularly infrastructure and financial services.
Similarly, IFC Divisional Director for Nigeria, Dahlia Khalifa, said Nigeria’s long-term economic prospects would depend on attracting investment, improving productivity and creating jobs for its rapidly growing population.
She said the World Bank Group would work with Nigeria to expand access to infrastructure and essential services while helping create an enabling environment for businesses to innovate, compete and grow.
The announcement reinforces the World Bank Group’s long-term commitment to supporting Nigeria’s economic transformation, with the CPF expected to guide its engagement through 2032 as the country seeks to convert macroeconomic stabilisation into sustained private investment, stronger economic growth, higher employment and lasting reductions in poverty.
