Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The federal government has launched the Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project in 19 Northern States and the Federal Capital Territorial (FCT).
National Project Coordinator for ACReSAL, Salisu Dahiru, the projectis to reverse the effects of land degradation in semi-arid parts of Nigeria.
He said the project based on $700m loan was demanded by the federal government with support from the World Bank to reverse the ugly trend. He said, “It affects livelihoods, destroys land for agriculture and partly responsible for the reason for migration, environmental refugees that is the downward migration in search of greener pastures.”
He said the crisis between Fulani herdsmen and farmers are caused by pressure on scarce natural resources.
“Most households in Nigeria rely on fuelwood which is not available in the North. So they will be looking for charcoal in the North Central region.
“That will result to massive burning of forests to produce charcoal and if this continues unabated the situation where we have desert encroachment in the far North will show it face in the middle belt part of the country.So ACReSAL was demanded by the FG with support from the world band the reverse this trend.
“The project is based on a loan amounting USD700m for implementation within a period of 6 years,” he said.
He explained further that, “It’s a loan of 10 years moratorium and interest rates of one percent and a repayment period of 30 years.” He said land degradation comes in different forms and manifests in different forms in different parts of the country, adding, however, that 19 Northern States and the federal capital territorial are the priority states.
He said, “All 20 Northern states including the FCT have been deemed eligible for ACRESAL support based on their low Aridity index.
“Eligible states are selected based on “demonstrated commitment” and “implementation readiness”criteria” He added, “eligible states will have access to investment and technical assistance (TA) funding,based on high demonstrated commitment and readiness for implementation.“All states will have access to TA funding, towards strengthening their readiness for implementation”
He said while there is desertification and desert encroachment in the North, there is loss of vegetations and incidences of different types of erosion in the South, gully erosion but also in the North,you could see incidences of gully as far as Gombe , Katsina and Sokoto state. It is not just limited to the Southern parts of the country.
The World Bank also provides trust funds to serve as grants to support parts of the project such that when implemented,the benefits will far outweigh the amount as signed by the financial agreement”. Global Lead, Disruptive Technology World Bank, Nagaraja Harsh said the USD 700m project was informed by Nigeria’s rich potentials despite it’s challenges.
He said, “Nigeria is an important country for world bank because that is where is alot of poverty but there is also alot of opportunities in Africa interns of looking at what can be done in water resources and environment management, agriculture and there has been alot activities that can be consolidated into a longer term problematic foundation as well as focus on the most difficult places to work with such as the Northern Nigeria
.
“This program is focused on Arid,semi Arid and the dry land which comprises of 19 Northern states plus FCT to build a longer term fieldwork in terms of looking at knowledge,data, information, institution, policies”.
He said the Bank has made available funds for technical assistance to ensure successful implementation of the project.
The Task Team leader for ACRESAL Joy Iganya Agene said the government of Nigeria has met most of the steps for the project.
She said very soon, the government will begin the implementation of the project which is in four components.
