fragile despite some improvements. While the country’s overall score in the 2023 Joint External Evaluation of International Health Regulations core capacities rose to 54 per cent from 39 per cent in 2017, significant gaps persist.
Legal frameworks remain inadequate, detection capacity is geographically limited, and logistics for emergency response are weak, especially at the subnational level. Surveillance systems remain fragmented, and critical veterinary and environmental health services lack coordination and funding.
The project aims to improve collaborative surveillance systems by integrating platforms such as the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System for human health and the National Animal Disease Information System for animal health.
Investments will also be made in ICT equipment, training and community-based health services, particularly at the local government level. The initiative will seek to enhance women’s participation in epidemiological training and leadership in response to the gender disparities revealed during past health emergencies such as the Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks.
While the loan proposal is being finalised, the environmental and social risk of the project has been rated as substantial. Implementation will be coordinated by the NCDC through a National Project Coordination Unit with oversight from a National Steering Committee chaired by the Coordinating Minister for Health and co-chaired by the Ministers of Finance, Environment and Livestock Development.
At the state level, a similar structure will be established, led by the State Commissioner for Health and supported by local coordination units. Only states that meet eligibility requirements, including formal expressions of interest, counterpart funding, and adoption of national health security policies, will be allowed to participate.
Meanwhile, data from the Debt Management Office showed that Nigeria’s total debt to the World Bank rose to $18.23bn as of March 31, 2025. This marks a $420m increase in just three months since December 2024, when Nigeria’s total exposure to the World Bank stood at $17.81bn.
The DMO data showed that borrowings from the International Development Association, the concessional financing arm of the World Bank, rose from $16.56bn in December 2024 to $16.99bn in March 2025.
At the same time, loans from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development — the non-concessional lending window of the World Bank — remained unchanged at $1.24bn. In total, the World Bank Group now accounts for $18.23bn, or about 39.7 per cent of Nigeria’s total external debt stock, which stood at $45.98bn as of March 2025.
This reflects a marginal increase in the World Bank’s share of the debt portfolio, up from 38.9 per cent recorded in December 2024 and 36.4 per cent at the end of 2023. Further analysis indicates that the World Bank now constitutes 81.2 per cent of Nigeria’s total multilateral debt, which reached $22.43bn in Q1 2025.
This represents a rise from the 79.8 per cent share recorded at the end of 2024 and underlines the central role the institution continues to play in Nigeria’s financing framework.
