Nigeria gets $500m World Bank loan for DisCos

The World Bank has approved a $500 million loan to improve access to electricity in Nigeria and expand the metered network of power distribution companies.

The money will help distribution companies or DisCos “make necessary investments to rehabilitate networks, install electric meters for more accurate customer billing and to improve quality of service for those already connected to the grid,” the Washington-based lender said in an emailed statement on Friday.

Read also: Discos get N14.35bn loan from CBN for 263,860 Meters

To qualify for funds, private distribution companies must meet various criteria including connection targets, financial management and network expansion, the lender said.

The loan follows the World Bank’s backing last year of a $750 million project to boost the energy sector of Africa’s biggest economy.

Nigeria lost about $26.2 billion as a result of unstable power supplies and 43 percent of the country’s 200 million people aren’t connected to the grid, the World Bank said.

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