Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The Minister of Water Resources, Engineer Suleiman Hussein Adamu, has expressed support for the World Bank assisted AGRO-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project.
The project to be implemented in 19 Northern states and FCT, will partner with approximately 2,800 communities in the targeted watersheds. ACReSAL was approved by the World Bank Board Directors in December 2021 and became effective on 9th June 2022.
Hussein gave his support during a high-level discussion with the World Bank and the ACReSAL Project Management Team in his office on Tuesday to brief him on Project implementation status.
The minister noted that he understands the importance of having a workshop especially at this effective stage of the project.
He expressed his joy that Ministry of Water Resources will be very much involved in the project and assured the team of all the necessary support as well as collaborations with Ministries of Environment and Agriculture and Rural development towards successful implementation of ACReSAL project.
Dr. Joy Iganya Agene, Senior Environment Specialist, World Bank and Task Team Leader 1 ACReSAL briefed the minister that part of the requirement for project implementation take-off is the approval of the workplan by the lead ministries, (Ministries of Environment, Water Resources and Agriculture and Rural Development).
She appealed to the minister for his participation in the forthcoming ACReSAL workshop where the workplan from all the participating states would be looked into by steering committee of ACReSAL which the minister is a co-Chairman.
She also informed the minister that Federal Ministry of Water Resources will be playing a key roll in the project; under the project component A, ministry of Water Resources would be responsible for the development of 20 strategic watershedplan.
Dr. Salisu Dahiru, the National Project Coordinator, ACReSAL informed the minister that ACReSAL is the first of its kind among other project in Nigeria that is complex and domicile in three ministries to achieve great mile stone within 5 months, this he said is as a result of the harmony and cooperation the project has received from the three ministries.
He noted that the workshop will serve as a training ground for especially 10 new states that were not part of NEWMAP and also an avenue to consolidate on the workplan for effective project implementation.
The ACReSAL Project Development Objective (PDO) is to increase the adoption of sustainable landscapes management and enhance livelihood in the targeted watersheds in Nigeria. ACReSAL project has 3 key components mainly Dryland Management, Community Climate Resilience and Institutional Strengthening and Project Management.
