World Bank today approved a $750 million loan for Nigeria 🇳🇬 to support projects in digital infrastructure and health security.
The World Bank is expected to approve two loans totalling $750 million for Nigeria on Tuesday, September 30, 2025 a $500 million facility for the Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth (BRIDGE) project and a $250 million loan for Nigeria’s portion of the Health Security Programme (HeSP) Phase II.
$500m BRIDGE (Building Resilient Digital Infrastructure for Growth): financing aimed at rolling out climate-resilient backbone and backhaul broadband infrastructure to unserved and underserved areas of Nigeria. The project is designed to close major structural gaps in national connectivity and accelerate access to digital public services, fintech, education and health platforms.
$250m Health Security Programme (HeSP) Nigeria Phase II: a tranche under a broader regional World Bank health security initiative. Nigeria’s share targets improvements in prevention, detection and rapid response to epidemics, strengthening surveillance, laboratory networks and multi-sector emergency preparedness (to reduce future pandemic risks).
Digital infrastructure is a growth enabler. BRIDGE is pitched as a catalytic intervention to extend high-quality broadband to rural and peri-urban communities, enabling e-government, telemedicine, remote learning, and private-sector growth in fintech and startups. The World Bank’s project documents emphasize resilience (climate-proofing) and open-access backbone design so multiple service providers can use the network.
Health security remains a top economic risk. HeSP builds on lessons from COVID-19 and other outbreaks by investing in systems that prevent and contain cross-border health threats critical for protecting lives and preserving economic activity. The Nigeria component will scale surveillance, lab capacity, workforce training and emergency response capability.
BRIDGE financing and PPP/SPV model: World Bank documents and federal ministry notices show BRIDGE will be large scale (total project costs in the multi-hundreds of millions to over $1.5–2.0 billion range in publicly circulated plans) and structured around a public-private partnership / Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to mobilize private capital alongside World Bank concessional financing (IDA). Federal ministries are already issuing request-for-expressions-of-interest for transaction and technical advisors.
HeSP financing: World Bank project papers show the Nigeria tranche is financed through IDA (the Bank’s concessional arm) and is part of a multi-phase regional program spanning West and Central Africa; the operation document details five core components: prevention, detection, response, capacity building and a contingent emergency response mechanism. Implementation will involve the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
BRIDGE network scale: Federal technical plans and ministry briefings describe an ambitious backbone rollout that once combined with existing fibre aims to create a national digital backbone in the order of 125,000 km (project documents and ministry releases describe adding roughly 90,000 km to an existing ~35,000 km stock, through rings, loops and regional spurs and edge data centres). The design includes multiple backbone “rings” linking geopolitical zones and city/regional loops to improve redundancy and last-mile reach.
HeSP scope in Nigeria: Program components include scaling multisectoral surveillance, strengthening laboratory networks, workforce development, improved governance/ stewardship for health security and mechanisms to rapidly finance emergency responses (a Contingent Emergency Response Component).
Economic inclusion: Faster, cheaper broadband in underserved areas can reduce the urban–rural digital divide and unlock new business models and public services.
Resilience and climate proofing: BRIDGE emphasizes climate-resilient design so the fiber backbone can withstand weather shocks and maintain continuity of critical digital services.
Stronger pandemic preparedness: HeSP investments aim to reduce response times, detect outbreaks earlier and coordinate regional responses lowering health and economic costs from future epidemics.
Debt and fiscal footprint: Even concessional IDA financing increases external obligations. Observers and commentators have flagged concerns about debt sustainability when countries accumulate multiple large external loans; Nigeria’s broader borrowing context matters for scrutiny and transparency.
Delivery capacity: Large infrastructure rollouts via an SPV/PPP need strong procurement, governance and regulatory oversight to avoid delays, cost overruns or capture by incumbent operators. The federal government is already recruiting transaction and legal advisors, an important sign but not a guarantee of smooth implementation. 
Social & environmental safeguards: World Bank project documents include Environmental & Social Commitment Plans and risk classifications implementation must respect those safeguards to reduce community harm and ensure equitable benefits.
World Bank/project documents: provide the technical and environmental/social frameworks for both BRIDGE and HeSP and show the operations in the Bank’s pipeline.
Federal ministries: the Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy (FMCIDE) has publicly promoted Project BRIDGE, inviting investors and advisors; ministry notes describe the rollout vision and SPV approach.
Local press / analysts: Nigerian outlets (Punch, Guardian, BusinessDay and others) reported the World Bank’s board was scheduled to consider the two loans on Sept. 30, 2025 and explained the projects’ goals and domestic oversight arrangements.
Board approval: documents placed the projects in the Bank’s active pipeline with board consideration scheduled for Sept. 30, 2025; if approved, the projects will move into signature and implementation phases, including procurement, SPV formation (BRIDGE) and roll-out planning.
Early procurement activity: the federal government has already issued tenders and requests for advisors (transaction, technical, legal), indicating preparatory steps are underway while final approvals are expected.
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