World Bank Greenlights New $1.57 Billion Support Fund for Nigeria

The World Bank has approved three operations totaling $1.57 billion to help Nigeria strengthen human capital through improved health for women, children, and adolescents, while also addressing climate change by enhancing dam safety and irrigation.

The funding includes $500 million for governance issues affecting education and health delivery (HOPE-GOV), $570 million for the Primary Healthcare Provision Strengthening Program (HOPE-PHC), and $500 million for the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project (SPIN).

Supporting the federal government’s health sector reforms, the HOPE-PHC project aims to enhance the quality and utilization of essential reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health services, ultimately reducing maternal and under-five mortality.

This initiative is expected to benefit 40 million people, particularly vulnerable populations.

The project is financed through a concessional $500 million International Development Association (IDA) credit, alongside an additional $70 million in grant funding from the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children, and Adolescents (GFF).

“Effective investment in the health and education of Nigerians today is central to increasing their future employment opportunities, productivity, and earnings while reducing poverty of the most vulnerable. This new financing for human capital and primary healthcare will help to address the complex difficulties faced by Nigerians, especially women and girls around access and quality of services, but also the governance arrangements that also explain these difficulties” said Dr. Ndiamé Diop, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria.

“The SPIN program is timely and will protect Nigerians from floods and droughts in the areas where it will be implemented while enabling an increase in hydropower generation. The direct positive impact of this project on people and livelihoods is enormous, The World Bank is pleased to work with the government and other stakeholders to deliver this program,” Diop added.