Nigerian companies have emerged as major beneficiaries of World Bank financed procurement, ranking fifth globally with over 6,800 contracts valued at more than $2.5 billion secured in the last five years.
This was disclosed by the World Bank’s Vice President for Operations, Policy and Country Services, Galina Vincelette, at a business outreach and opportunity seminar held in Lagos. According to her, more than 60 percent of the contracts awarded to Nigerian firms were in infrastructure projects, underscoring the growing competitiveness of local companies across Nigeria and the wider African market.
Vincelette explained that the outreach event was designed to deepen private sector participation in World Bank financed projects by helping firms better understand procurement processes and available opportunities. She noted that the event attracted over 200 Nigerian companies physically and more than 250 participants online from Nigeria, neighbouring countries and Europe.
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The World Bank currently has about 1,500 active investment projects under implementation globally, translating to roughly 40,000 procurement contracts annually. In Nigeria alone, the Bank’s active portfolio stands at approximately $16.5 billion, spanning critical sectors such as power, health, education, climate resilience and infrastructure.
According to Vincelette, delivering projects at this scale requires strong private sector involvement. She said the Lagos event was aimed at demystifying World Bank procurement processes and connecting businesses directly to available resources and opportunities.
She also highlighted recent reforms introduced by the World Bank to improve its procurement framework. These include placing stronger emphasis on quality, which now accounts for at least 50 percent of evaluation criteria for most international contracts, encouraging early market engagement for large contracts and prioritising local job creation.
Under the revised rules, international works contracts require at least 30 percent of labour costs to be sourced locally. This is intended to boost employment, skills development and local economic growth. The Bank has also adopted aggregation strategies to improve competitiveness and deliver better value for money.
Addressing concerns about competition, Vincelette said Nigerian firms, including small and medium sized enterprises, remain highly competitive. She revealed that 90 percent of Nigerian companies that bid for local World Bank contracts are successful, while about 70 percent of total contract value goes to local firms.
She encouraged smaller businesses to participate through joint ventures or subcontracting arrangements to build experience and capacity. She added that local knowledge and expertise provide a strong advantage under the Bank’s quality focused evaluation system.
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Looking ahead, Vincelette said the World Bank is developing a new Country Partnership Framework to guide its medium term engagement with Nigeria. Key priorities include human capital development in health, education, social protection and early childhood development, as well as foundational infrastructure such as electricity.
Nigeria, she said, is central to the World Bank’s Mission 300 initiative, which aims to connect 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030. Agriculture and the digital economy will also remain priority sectors.
She stressed that mobilising private capital would be critical to achieving development impact at scale, reaffirming the World Bank Group’s commitment to working closely with Nigeria’s public and private sectors to drive sustainable growth.
