Abstract: Despite the debt forgiveness to the tune of $18 billion received by Nigeria from Paris club since year 2005 including the subsequent payment of $12 billion to upset the remaining debt, there is no evidence of accelerating pace of growth and development of the country. It is therefore, instructive to find out the direction and the extent of the effectiveness of the debt relief granted to Nigeria. This forms the objective of this study. The secondary data used for the investigation were processed using the ordinary least square packages. The result of the OLS model showed that the debt overhang problem of Nigeria has been alleviated by the debt relief package but the debt service relief did not positively influence the growth indicator. The results strongly support the need for tougher conditionality in future debt forgiveness initiative. Donor countries should monitor the allocation pattern of debt relief maintain the conditionalities and reward sound policies and improvements of governance quality in debtor countries.