Bauchi State Government has released the sum of N500 million as counterpart funding for the implementation of the 6 years Agro-climmatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) project.
The disclosure was made by the State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir while speaking at the official launch of the project held at the Command Guest House, Bauchi on Friday.
The Governor said that ACReSAL is about life and livelihoods particularly for people at the villages, hard to reach communities that are suffering environmental degradation to the extent that they cannot farm to earn a living.
Bala Mohammed said that the plan of his administration is to have not fewer than 100 earth dams across the state in order to provide constant water supply for the herders as well as the farmers to check constant migration out of the state.
According to him, “We have to really do something positive to check the environmental degradation across the state. We have the capacity to do that within the limited resources available to us.”
“We produce a lot of wheat, cassava and other crops in my area, Duguri, but unfortunately, the entire area has been washed away, we need to do something to check the trend in order to bring succour to our people,” he said.
The Governor however lamented that the Kafin Zaki dam cannot be completed because of the politics going on by the people of the downstream sector saying that something need to be done to get the project done.
While giving an overview of the project, the Task Team Leader of ACReSAL, Dr Joy Iganya Agene commended the State for been the first among the benefiting states to promptly release the counterpart funding in accordance with the MoU signed.
She also said that the State Government demonstrated seriousness for the implementation of the project by providing all the requirements needed even before the commencement of the project stressing that it was a demonstration of good governance.
She however stressed that the project is not about allocation of funds but commitment driven saying, “If Bauchi State wants to have the entire project, it is very possible, all that is required is more counterpart funding from the state.”
According to her, “I know Bauchi State can do it, having in mind that other 18 states and FCT are waiting to also benefit from the project implementation.”
She stressed that the project is all about making live easy for people at the grassroots who have been devastated by various environmental issues which must be mitigated against.
Joy Agene assured that project management will always engage the people to know what their problems are and try to alleviate such problems within a short period of time.
The National Coordinator of the ACReSAL Project, Abdulhameed Umar while reviewing the project said that the success story has justify the objectives of the project.
He commended Bauchi State for what has been done so far stressing that it was the modest achievement that promoted the official launching of the project in the benefiting states and FCT.
The National Coordinator stressed that the focus of the project is giving the poor people at the grassroots a means of livelihoods having been devastated by various negative environmental issues.
He then assured that the ACReSAL project will open more opportunities for effective service delivery in environment improvement in the state.
In his opening remarks, the State Project Coordinator of ACReSAL, Dr Kabiru Ibrahim disclosed that so far, 12 Communities interest groups (CIG) have been mobilized and trained in the 7 LGAs the project is being implemented.
He emphasized that the ACReSAL project was first launched in Bauchi state among the 19th Northern states and FCT participating in the project.
The Project Coordinator said that the project has 4 components of implementation which is aimed at improving the livelihoods of the people of the rural areas.
The traditional institutions in the state pledged their support for the successful implementation of the project stressing that it is for the benefit of the people.
Speaking through the Wazirin Bauchi, Uba Mohammed Kárí, the Traditional rulers commended the State Government for keying into the project promising to protect whatever infrastructure in the various communities.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then