FG To Implement $700m ACReSAL Project in 19 States, FCT

The federal government has revealed plans to resolve environmental challenges in 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) through the World Bank-sponsored Agroclimatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project.

The World Bank December last year approved a $700m credit from the International Development Association (IDA) for the project.

According to the Minister of Environment, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, says the implementation of the project would improve the livelihoods of Nigerians with the target of lifting 100 million people out of poverty.

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Earlier in April, Economic Confidential had reported that, the federal government and the World Bank launched the ACReSAL project to address environmental challenges in northern Nigeria and resolve the age-old farmers-herders conflict.

The project is to be jointly implemented by three Ministries including Environment; Agriculture and Rural Development as well as the Ministry of Water Resources.

Speaking in Lagos at a week-long Technical Work Plan Workshop ahead of the implementation of the project to be funded by the World Bank, the minister reiterated that the project is one of the central components in President Muhammadu Buhari’s strategy of ensuring environmental sustainability by communities across the country.

The National Coordinator for the ACReSAL project, Salisu Dahiru, added that the project is aimed at reversing the land degradation in the semi-arid part of Nigeria and at the same time tackling the socioeconomic challenges associated with it, especially the farmers-herders conflict.

He explained, “For instance, Lagos State has the smallest land area in Nigeria but it has the highest population. Research has shown that over 80 per cent of people living in Lagos State depend on wood-based sources as the main source of energy for cooking and for eating.

“Do you see trees or wood being gathered in Lagos? No! All the firewood is coming from up North. Meaning, we have Lagos State where the population is there but we do not have trees, which is causing deforestation and land degradation in the northern part of the country.

“The project is to address and reverse this land degradation and the way it is going to do it is to combine the three key ministries that are involved: Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and we also have Ministry of Water Resources because when you deplete the vegetation cover, the place becomes dry and if it is dry, it does not have water, if it does not have water, it does not support agriculture and people who are living there must survive.

However, Joy Iganya Agene, Task Team Leader, revealed that ACReSAL Project is a 6-year strategic project prioritising actions across four components including Dryland Management, Community Climate Resilience, Institutional Strengthening and Project Management and Contingent Emergency Response.