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,
According to the World Bank’s official website, the cumulative disbursement has increased from the earlier reported $315m in 2023 to $530m this year, reflecting fresh inflows into Nigeria’s accounts for the palliative programme.
The report by Punch newspaper on Saturday noted that 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 report, however, said that 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 President Bola Tinubu’s administration, the payment was revised to N25,000 monthly for three months, aimed at reaching 15 million households across the country.
It stated that in October and November 2023, the World Bank disbursed $300m and $15m, respectively, to Nigeria under the programme, but a review of World Bank records 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.
