The Federal Government is seeking $1.5bn in loans from the World Bank to support climate resilience, early childhood development and social protection programmes.

The proposed loans comprise three separate $500m facilities at different stages of preparation, according to World Bank documents.

The first is a $500m additional loan for the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes project, known as ACReSAL.

The World Bank is scheduled to consider the proposed additional financing on October 29, 2026. If approved, it would increase World Bank funding for ACReSAL from the existing $700m to $1.2bn.

ACReSAL operates across 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, focusing on land degradation, water insecurity, climate vulnerability and declining agricultural productivity.

According to the project appraisal document, the Federal Government requested the additional financing to scale up project results and strengthen the institutional, operational and financing arrangements needed to sustain integrated landscape management.

Of the proposed $500m ACReSAL loan, $310m is earmarked for dryland management, $165m for community climate resilience and $25m for institutional strengthening and project management.

Another $500m loan is being proposed for Nigeria’s Early Childhood Development programme, which is designed to expand access to health, nutrition, early learning, childcare and related services for children aged zero to five and their caregivers across the 36 states and the FCT.

Data cited in the World Bank project documents show that 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five are stunted, while fewer than half are considered developmentally on track. Only 36 per cent of children aged 36 to 59 months attend organised early learning, according to the documents.

The third proposed loan is a $500m facility for the Household Prosperity and Empowerment Social Protection Project, known as HOPE-SP.

The loan is expected to support conditional and unconditional cash transfers for poor and vulnerable households, strengthen social protection institutions and gradually shift more of the financing burden from external sources to federal and state budgets.

The World Bank estimates that 62.5 per cent of Nigerians could be living in poverty in 2026, compared with 40 per cent in 2019 and 56 per cent in 2023.

All three proposed loans are expected to be financed through credits from the World Bank’s International Development Association.

The proposed borrowing comes as Nigeria’s public debt rose to N166.79tn at the end of June 2026, up from N159.35tn in March.

In dollar terms, the country’s total public debt stood at $120.93bn as of June, comprising $54.52bn in external debt and $66.41bn in domestic debt.

Nigeria’s outstanding debt to the World Bank Group also rose to $20.73bn by June 2026, representing about 38 per cent of the country’s total external debt.

The proposed $1.5bn loans have not yet been approved. The ACReSAL financing is scheduled for World Bank board consideration in October, while the Early Childhood Development and HOPE-SP facilities are expected to go before the board in March 2027.

If approved, the three loans would add another $1.5bn to Nigeria’s World Bank-backed financing pipeline.