The World Bank has approved $500 million in additional financing to help Nigeria tackle flooding, restore damaged farmland and reduce clashes over land and water in the north.
The money supports the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project. It is aimed at 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, with a focus on climate resilience, better water management and stronger rural livelihoods.
By 2031, the expanded programme is expected to help restore about 1.4 million hectares of land and reach roughly 6.6 million people. Planned gains include higher household incomes, healthier vegetation and soils, less flooding and related deaths, stronger agricultural output, and fewer conflicts among farmers, herders and communities.
Building on Work Already Under Way
ACReSAL started in 2022 to address environmental degradation and climate risks across northern Nigeria. So far it has introduced sustainable landscape practices on about 550,000 hectares and reached more than 4.4 million people. The bank says the project has already surpassed its target for improved catchment management, which is why it is scaling up.
Matthew Verghis, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, said the extra funding will expand approaches that have already shown results in vulnerable areas restoring more land, lifting productivity and strengthening the institutions needed to keep those gains.
Iganya Agene, the project’s task team leader, said the new money is meant to turn earlier planning and institutional work into larger investments that improve climate adaptation, food and water security, jobs and economic opportunity.
What the Project Targets
Northern communities face linked problems: degraded land, weaker farm yields, water stress and competition for natural resources. By improving access to productive land and water, the programme is intended to ease some of the pressures that fuel disputes between farmers, herders and other groups.
Work will include watershed rehabilitation, erosion control and better management of natural resources in places most exposed to climate-related disasters. The Federal Ministry of Environment is implementing the project with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Wider Context
The approval comes about four months after the World Bank cleared a separate $1.25 billion package for Nigeria in June 2026 under the Nigeria Actions for Investment and Jobs Acceleration programme. The new $500 million is specifically tied to landscape restoration and climate resilience in the north, not that earlier facility.
For households in the target states, the test will be whether restored land, better water control and stronger local institutions translate into more reliable harvests, fewer flood losses and calmer relations over scarce resources outcomes the bank says the scaled-up project is designed to deliver by 2031.
