The Think Nigeria First Initiative (TNFI) has called on the Federal Government and the World Bank to approve the proposed $500 million additional financing for the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project, describing the intervention as critical to restoring degraded land and improving food security in Northern Nigeria.
The Director-General of Think Nigeria First Initiative (TNFI), Alhaji Abubakar Sani disclosed this at a press briefing, organised in collaboration with the Northern Stakeholders Coalition for Sustainable Development on Wednesday in Abuja.
Under the theme “Investing in the North, Building a Sustainable Future”, Sani said the proposed financing was necessary to consolidate gains already recorded under ACReSAL, which operates across the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with support from the World Bank.
He said the project, approved in December 2021 with an initial financing of $700 million, was established to address challenges including desertification, gully erosion, flooding and deteriorating dams, which he said were affecting agricultural productivity and contributing to livelihood losses, migration and insecurity.
“ACReSAL is not a promise. It is a record. These are the project’s own reported results,” Sani said.
According to him, the project has restored 818,546 hectares of degraded land, representing 81 per cent of its target, while reaching 4.4 million direct beneficiaries, 47 per cent of whom are women.
He added that 965 solar-powered boreholes had been drilled, while $9.5 million had been disbursed through the Community Revolving Fund to 381 communities and 29,489 individuals.
The TNFI director-general further disclosed that 328 tractors had been distributed under the project and had generated about N140 million in revenue.
Sani highlighted several interventions across the region, including a 21-kilometre gully erosion control project in Gombe, which he said was 98 per cent complete and had protected more than 200,000 households and assets estimated at N45 billion.
He also cited the restoration of the Nguru wetland in Yobe, which had reportedly remained dry for 12 years, saying the intervention had restored livelihoods for about 80,853 farmers, herders and fishermen.
In Sokoto, he said the Wurno Irrigation Scheme, which collapsed in 2010, was being rebuilt to serve more than 100,000 farmers, while an intervention at the Sheda cassava centre in Kwali, FCT, had increased the number of women working there from 10 to 200.
On the proposed additional financing, Sani said the Federal Government had requested an additional $500 million, which would bring the total ACReSAL financing to $1.2 billion if approved by the World Bank’s Board, scheduled to consider the request on October 29, 2026.
He said the additional funding was justified by ACReSAL’s performance and would be provided on concessional terms through the International Development Association (IDA).
“It is a reward for performance. After last month’s joint review in Bauchi, the World Bank team said most projects seeking more money must first be redesigned. ACReSAL is being scaled up, not redesigned,” he said.
Sani also said the additional financing would be conditional on states demonstrating progress in establishing coordinating agencies, sustaining completed interventions and collaborating with neighbouring states on shared catchments.
He said support for the project had grown among northern stakeholders, noting that governors in eight states had personally commissioned or inspected ACReSAL projects, while N22 billion in counterpart funds had been released.
The TNFI boss urged the National Assembly to support the additional financing while exercising its oversight powers to ensure accountability in the utilisation of the funds.
He also called on ACReSAL management to publish its results state-by-state and site-by-site, while urging state governments to release counterpart funding promptly and establish agencies capable of sustaining completed projects.
Addressing concerns over Nigeria’s rising borrowing, Sani argued that concessional borrowing for projects that restore agricultural land, improve water availability and strengthen rural livelihoods should be viewed as an investment rather than merely a debt burden.
“Investing in the North is how we build a sustainable future, and a sustainable North means a stronger Nigeria,” he said.
