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Daniel Adaji
The World Bank is planning a $10.5m grant for Nigeria, aimed at enhancing the technical capacity of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and modernising the country’s domestic payment infrastructure.
This is, according to information obtained from the World Bank website on Friday.
This intervention, which is part of the CBN Technical Assistance Facility, will focus on integrating innovative technologies and data science into the CBN’s supervisory processes.
The fund is expected to help address both long-standing and emerging challenges in Nigeria’s financial sector while improving the infrastructure for remittance payments.
According to the World Bank, the initiative is designed to strengthen technology-driven, risk-based supervision at the CBN and enhance the domestic payment infrastructure.
The proposed project is structured around three key areas: it aims to strengthen institutional capacity by equipping the CBN with tools to adapt to technological advancements. The project will focus on developing a robust governance framework, providing expert advisory support, and updating internal processes to meet the demands of the digital era.
The grant will help improve CBN’s supervisory functions by incorporating advanced Supervisory Technology (SupTech) systems. These modern systems are expected to improve data accuracy, operational efficiency, and overall risk-based supervision.
Additionally, the initiative will explore ways to formalise remittance flows into secure, regulated channels, improving the safety and reliability of domestic payment systems. This will include conducting surveys on remittance households and encouraging knowledge-sharing among industry peers.
The project also aligns with Nigeria’s broader goal of transitioning towards a cashless economy, as well as the growing adoption of digital financial services in the country. The World Bank is expected to present the project for approval on June 12, 2025, with the CBN as the implementing agency.
This new initiative comes as Nigeria’s total debt to the World Bank continues to rise. The country’s external debt report, released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), showed that Nigeria now owes the World Bank a total of $17.32bn.
The majority of this debt, amounting to $16.84bn, is owed to the International Development Association (IDA), which represents about 39.14 per cent of Nigeria’s total external debt. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), another branch of the World Bank, is owed $485.08m, which accounts for just 1.13 per cent of the total debt.
Since President Bola Tinubu’s administration took office, the federal government has secured loans worth $8.03bn from the World Bank within less than two years.
The World Bank has approved 13 different loan projects under his leadership, covering areas such as education, nutrition, and economic resilience.
In addition to the $10.5m for the CBN, the World Bank recently approved three major financing operations for Nigeria, totaling $1.08bn.
These include $500m for the Community Action for Resilience and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme, $80m for Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRIN 2.0), and $500m for the Hope for Quality Basic Education for All (HOPE-EDU) initiative. These initiatives aim to support key sectors such as education, nutrition, and economic resilience, particularly for underserved groups in Nigeria.