The World Bank has disbursed additional funds to Nigeria under the $800m National Social Safety Net Programme-Scale Up, raising the total amount released to $530m.
Checks on Thursday on the World Bank’s official website revealed that the cumulative disbursement had increased from the earlier reported $315m in 2023 to $530m this year, reflecting fresh inflows into Nigeria’s accounts for the palliative programme.
Although the exact day the extra disbursement was made this year could not be independently verified, findings showed that the World Bank was yet to update the detailed section of its portal that typically records transaction dates as of April 30, 2025, suggesting that the disbursement was very recent and likely made this month.
The $800m facility, approved on December 16, 2021, was designed to provide conditional cash transfers to Nigeria’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens, cushioning the impact of recent economic shocks, including the removal of the petrol subsidy.
Originally, the programme was structured to deliver N5,000 monthly to targeted households. However, following policy changes introduced by the Bola Tinubu administration, the payment was revised to N25,000 monthly for three months, aimed at reaching 15 million households across the country.
In October and November 2023, the World Bank disbursed $300m and $15m, respectively, to Nigeria under the programme. A review of World Bank records at the time showed that the cumulative release then stood at $315m.
New data obtained on Thursday shows that an additional $215m has been released, bringing the total disbursement to $530m and reducing the amount available for drawdown to about $226.73m.
This means that 66.25 per cent of the loan has been disbursed, with about 33.75 per cent left.
Despite receiving World Bank approval since December 2021, the implementation of the palliative programme suffered a disbursement delay of nearly 17 months.
While Nigeria awaited disbursements from the World Bank under the $800m National Social Safety Net Programme-Scale Up loan, data reviewed revealed that the country continued to incur and settle interest charges totalling over $6.18m, despite the protracted delay in actual fund utilisation.
World Bank records show that Nigeria paid multiple tranches of interest charges under the financing agreement tagged IDA-70190, including substantial payments made in January and July 2024.
On January 30, 2024, Nigeria paid three separate charges amounting to $822,259.40, $495,603.16, and another $495,603.16, bringing the January total to over $1.81m. These payments came months after the initial $300m and $15m disbursements made in October and November 2023, respectively.
Further charges were paid on July 15, 2024, when four separate interest payments totalling over $5.36m were recorded. The July charges included $1.98m, two entries of $1.19m each, and a separate charge of $3,737.83.
Together with the January payments, Nigeria’s total charges on the loan amounted to approximately $6,181,877.35. These interest charges were paid even as a significant portion of the loan remained undisbursed.
