Abstract This article is a critical appraisal of the recent financing of 20 Federal University Libraries in Nigeria by the World Bank at the negotiated sum of US$120 million ( N = 2·64 billion). The World Bank project provides for acquisition of books, journals and equipment based on conditionalities to be met by the Universities. With background consideration of the socioeconomic effects prevalent with such financing, the paper assesses the impact of implementation of the loan on aspects of library professionalism concerning selection, acquisition and staff development functions. The problem of bureaucracy posed by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as arbiter of the loan is also highlighted. For the analysis, statistical data on the schedule of University draw downs based on first, second, third generation of universities; the expenditure on books; funds committed for journals; and foreign beneficiaries of payments made for journals, show that all the universities have benefited from the book fund for the first tranche, while payment has been committed, though not expended, for 1993 journals. The inability of the universities in fully meeting up with set conditionalities and policy implications of the credit facility form the basis of discussion on the aborted future of the World Bank Project.