BREAKING: World Bank approves $3bn power loan for Nigeria

The World Bank has agreed to give Nigeria a $3 billion loan for the expansion of the transmission and distribution facilities of the power sector.

Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, made this known on Sunday while addressing journalists on the activities of Nigeria at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group.

“This financing will cover the gap between the current tariff and the actual cost of generating electricity,” she said.

“It will also enhance our ability to pay previous obligations in the sector that has crystallised so that investors in the sector can go on with expanding investments in the sector.”

Speaking further, Ahmed said the loan will be released in four tranches of $750 million each and there is room for the loan to be expanded to $4 billion.

“Some portion of the loan will be for the transmission network and if we are able to expand to $4 billion then the extra $1 billion will be for the distribution network.”

“The distribution sector will be at the backend when the other reforms have been carried out.

“It will be a loan to the distribution companies because they are owned by the private sector.”

According to the minister, a team from Nigeria will visit the World Bank in April 2020 to get approval for the release of the first tranche of the loan.