Over the years, Nigeria has been a major beneficiary of foreign aid in addressing its growing economic and health challenges, with the United States being a major partner.
After the mid-August 2022 flooding that affected more than 4.4 million Nigerians and claimed over 660 lives, the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced $5 million in humanitarian assistance.
In the previous year, USAID pledged an additional $10.6 million in development assistance to support the goals outlined in a 2021 bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Nigerian governments. Most of the new funding was allocated to boosting COVID-19 vaccination efforts, aiming to reach 600,000 people per day.
On October 25, 2023, USAID announced that the five-year Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity, with a total investment of $15.7 million, had assisted more than 18,000 small businesses across seven states—Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kebbi, and Niger.
On August 20, 2024, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria announced that Nigeria would receive $27 million as part of a larger $536 million humanitarian aid package from the U.S. government to Sub-Saharan Africa.
This support continued even into 2025 when the United States announced a $2.095 million grant to assess the viability of deploying 90,000 kilometres of new fibre optic backbone infrastructure across the country.
Data from the United States Foreign Assistance dashboard revealed that Nigeria received $4.6 billion in foreign aid between 2020 and 2024.
In 2024 alone, Nigeria received $782,663,647 in foreign assistance from the United States, with health receiving the highest allocation ($463.7 million) across all categories, including humanitarian assistance and economic development. The highest-funded activity was the HIV/AIDS Task Order under the Global Health Supply Chain program, receiving approximately $93.6 million, followed by the Malaria Task Order with $30.9 million.
In 2023, health received the most funding at $512,094,605, bringing the total aid provided for the year to $1,012,148,245. Further research revealed that within the health category, HIV/AIDS received the highest funding at $232.2 million, followed by malaria at $80.3 million.
Nigeria received $973,623,447. In 2022, the health sector received the highest allocation at $484.8 million, followed by humanitarian assistance at $337.7 million, economic development at $59.2 million, and programme support at $40.6 million.
Nigeria received $922,468,986 in foreign aid from the U.S. in 2021 and $880,481,503 in 2020.
|
Year |
Amount (USD) |
|
2020 |
$880,481,503 |
|
2021 |
$922,468,986 |
|
2022 |
$973,623,447 |
|
2023 |
$1,012,148,245 |
|
2024 |
$782,663,647 |
|
Total |
$4,571,385,828 |
Source: U.S. Foreign Assistance
There was a steady increase in foreign aid from 2020 to 2023, peaking in 2023 at $1,012,148,245. However, in 2024, the amount dropped significantly to $782,663,647.
However, it remains uncertain whether Nigeria will continue to receive this assistance, especially given that former U.S. President Donald Trump has halted foreign aid worldwide as part of his new policies.
According to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, President Trump stated that the United States would no longer “blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.” She added, “Reviewing and realigning foreign assistance on behalf of hardworking taxpayers is not just the right thing to do; it is a moral imperative.”
Experts fear that such policies could have severe consequences for Nigeria, particularly in the health sector.
One Policy, Many Effects
Trump’s decision to halt foreign aid will impact HIV/AIDS programmes in Nigeria, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. The health body, from which the United States has withdrawn, stated that the immediate suspension of funding for the HIV programme in Nigeria and other low- and middle-income countries under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) will have severe consequences.
PEPFAR, a flagship initiative of the global HIV response, was established over 20 years ago.
In Nigeria, the U.S. government, through the PEPFAR programme, has contributed more than $6 billion over the years to the national HIV/AIDS response. This support has significantly strengthened the country’s efforts to combat the epidemic and meet the “95-95-95” targets, which focus on diagnosing, treating, and sustaining HIV treatment.
With Trump’s decision, the fate of 1.9 million people in Nigeria living with HIV hangs in the balance.
The Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed concern that a funding freeze could increase the risk of illness and death for those living with HIV while also hindering efforts to prevent the virus’s spread within communities.
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