World Bank approves $65m loan for Nigeria’s SPESSE project

The World Bank has approved an additional $65 million loan for Nigeria under the Sustainable Procurement, Environmental, and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) project, raising total project financing to $145 million.

According to information obtained from the World Bank’s website, the approval was granted on June 24, 2025.

The project status has since been updated to “active,” with the World Bank confirming that it has reached the “bank approved” stage.

The SPESSE project, launched in 2021 with an initial $80 million loan approved in February 2020, aims to build institutional capacity for managing procurement, environmental, and social standards across Nigeria’s public and private sectors.

“The project development objective is to develop sustainable capacity in managing procurement, environment, and social standards in the public and private sectors,” the World Bank said.

WORLD BANK TO APPROVE $1.61BN LOANS FOR NIGERIA

Further checks show that the World Bank is expected to approve additional loans totalling $1.61 billion for Nigeria in the coming months.

In July, the bank is expected to approve a $300 million loan for the ‘Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities Project’.

“The objective of the Project is to improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities in target local government areas (LGAs) in northern Nigeria,” the World Bank said.

The loan is currently in the negotiation phase and is expected to be finalised on July 31, 2025.

In September 2025, three additional loans are lined up for approval.

The loans include CBN Technical Assistance (TA) Facility ($10.50 million), Health Security Program in Western and Central Africa, Nigeria – Phase IV ($300 million), and Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth – BRIDGE ($500 million).

Also, a $500 million loan will be approved under the Nigeria Sustainable Agricultural Value-Chains for Growth project.

The funding, scheduled for approval in December 2025, is aimed at fostering sustainable growth and job creation across selected agricultural value chains in Nigeria.

In March 2025, three different financing requests were approved, totalling $1.13 billion, for projects targeting quality education, household and community resilience, and improved nutrition.