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🇳🇬 Nigeria /Economy & Trade

World Bank backs tariff and subsidy reforms in Nigeria’s power sector

From The Punch · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Official statement New plan
  • The World Bank’s FY2026-FY2032 partnership framework for Nigeria supports tariff and subsidy reforms, regulatory improvements and competitive investment planning in the electricity sector.
  • The bank says more than 86 million Nigerians lack electricity access and estimates the sector’s tariff shortfall at $2.45 billion by the end of 2025.
  • Its on-grid and off-grid programs aim to help provide electricity access to more than 32 million Nigerians while mobilizing private investment in mini-grids, solar systems and the national grid.

The World Bank is backing reforms to Nigeria’s electricity tariffs and subsidies as the country struggles with a power sector it describes as financially unsustainable. The support forms part of the bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Nigeria for fiscal years 2026 through 2032.

The framework focuses on improving access and reliability for households and businesses through both grid-connected and off-grid systems. It links the work to Nigeria’s Mission 300 Compact targets and includes reforms to tariff and subsidy structures, investment planning and sector regulation.

The bank says more than 86 million people in Nigeria currently lack access to electricity, giving the country the world’s largest electricity access deficit. Frequent outages have pushed households and businesses toward expensive generators, which the bank says has reduced firms’ productivity. It estimates electricity-sector tariff shortfalls will reach $2.45 billion by the end of 2025.

The WBG will also support reforms to restore financial sustainability, focusing on tariff and subsidy frameworks, competitive investment planning, and sound sector regulation.

· World Bank GroupThe statement sets out the bank’s planned support for Nigeria’s electricity-sector reforms.

The World Bank says its support will help attract private capital for renewable energy, grid expansion and stronger power infrastructure. It will continue backing the Nigeria Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up platform, which supports large-scale investment in mini-grids and standalone solar systems.

The bank also plans to help the federal government structure public-private partnerships and private investment frameworks across generation, transmission and distribution. That assistance will include preparing projects, structuring transactions and running transparent competitive processes. Together, the bank says, its on-grid and off-grid efforts under the framework could extend electricity access to more than 32 million Nigerians.

Together, these off- and on-grid efforts under the CPF will provide electricity access to over 32 million Nigerians.

· World Bank GroupThe bank described the expected reach of its six-year partnership framework.
About this summary

Originally published by The Punch in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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