The strong performance of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project across northern Nigeria has paved the way for discussions on additional financing from the World Bank.
The development was disclosed on Monday in Bauchi by the ACReSAL Task Team Lead, Dr Joy Iganya Agege, during a hybrid Additional Financing Pre-Appraisal Mission held at the Ahmadu Bello International Conference Centre.
Agege said the proposed additional financing was not prompted by failure of the existing programme but by the need to expand interventions that had delivered measurable results.
She said ACReSAL had contributed to poverty reduction, with about 41 per cent of farmers benefiting from increased incomes, while more than one million hectares of degraded land had been reclaimed.
“In the case of ACReSAL, we are not changing the design. We are scaling up, meaning we want to see more work done at the community level,” she said.
She expressed hope that additional funding would increase the percentage of beneficiaries lifted out of poverty beyond 50 per cent.
Agege said the pre-appraisal mission would assess the project’s performance and establish a framework for expanding its interventions across the 19 northern states and the FCT.
She commended Bauchi State for its implementation of the project, saying the state had earned recognition for its performance.
The National Project Coordinator, Abdulhamid Umar, similarly described ACReSAL as a “performing project”, saying its achievements had justified the consideration of additional financing.
He said the programme had contributed to the restoration of degraded landscapes while helping communities adapt to the effects of climate change.
According to him, ACReSAL is also supporting agriculture, crop protection and food security across the 19 northern states and the FCT.
Umar said the Federal Government, as the borrower, was fully supporting efforts to secure additional financing from the World Bank.
He said Bauchi was selected to host the pre-appraisal mission because of its strong performance under the project.
“Bauchi happens to be one of our best-performing states as far as ACReSAL is concerned. We didn’t find it difficult to come to Bauchi because ACReSAL is actually being implemented and delivering results here,” he said.
Agege also commended Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed for his support for donor-funded programmes and asked the Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Auwal Muhammad Jatau, to convey the project’s appreciation to the governor.
