Connect with us

News

ACReSAL: A Beacon of Hope for Nigeria’s Agriculture Sector – Gov. Sule, Lafia, Nasarawa State, May 23, 2024

Published

on

ACReSAL: A Beacon of Hope for Nigeria’s Agriculture Sector – Gov. Sule, Lafia, Nasarawa State, May 23, 2024

By: Michael Mike

The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project has been hailed as a beacon of hope for Nigeria’s agriculture sector and landscape restoration particularly in semi-arid regions like Nasarawa State.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the joint World Bank/FAO/FGN Hybrid Implementation Support Mission for the ACReSAL Project, Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Sule Abdullahi A. Sule, represented by his deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, emphasized the significance of ACReSAL in addressing pressing challenges facing the agriculture sector.

“Nasarawa State, like every other state in the semi-arid region, experiences the adverse effects of climate change, which threatens our security and livelihoods,” said Dr. Akabe. “Through collaborative efforts and innovative approaches like ACReSAL, we have the opportunity to build community resilience and ensure sustainable agricultural practices.”

The ACReSAL project aims to restore 1 million hectares of degraded land in Northern Nigeria, contributing significantly to the Federal Government’s commitment to restore 4 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. This endeavor will not only help reduce the vulnerability of millions of extremely poor people in the region but also empower them to play an active role in achieving environmental sustainability.

The beauty of the ACReSAL project lies in its community-driven approach, where local communities are at the forefront of understanding, owning, protecting, and defending the project. This ensures that the project is tailored to meet the specific needs of the communities and is sustainable in the long run.

“ACReSAL embodies the spirit of partnership and cooperation, bringing together government agencies, development partners, people from academia, local communities, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and all to find solutions to our shared environmental challenges,” he said.

Together, we will leverage the power of technology, research, and community engagement to transform our agricultural landscapes and secure a better future for generations to come. As we embark on this important project implementation journey, let us remain steadfast in our resolve, mindful of the impact of our actions, and responsive to the needs of our farmers and the community.

Let us use this opportunity to make a meaningful difference to the lives of our people and the sustainability of our environment and make ACReSAL a beacon of hope for Nasarawa and Nigeria.

Dr. Joy Iganya Agene, Senior Environmental Specialist-World Bank Nigeria and Task Team Leader for the ACReSAL Project, noted that the ACReSAL Team is in Nasarawa state for a joint World Bank, Federal Government of Nigeria, and Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations Hybrid Implementation Support Mission for the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project.

The aim of the mission is to assess implementation activities in the 19 Northern states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) that are participating in the project, visit communities, inspect lands that have been marked for restoration, and carry out activities of the Community Resolving Fund (CRF).

She noted that Nasarawa is one of the fast-moving states in ACReSAL and would not be possible without the support of the leadership of Nasarawa state.

She disclosed that Nasarawa state will be one of the first states in the group 2 phase to qualify for phase 2 of the ACReSAL Investment. According to her, under ACReSAL, for a state to access this investment (fund), the state will have to get some instruments in place, and this is done to check the demonstration commitment and technical capacity of the state to carry out the interventions.

This funding will cushion the impact of climate change, help build the capacity of vulnerable communities to adapt to climate change, and allow water to take its natural course in Nasarawa state.

In his remarks, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar, the National Project Coordinator for the ACReSAL Project, noted that the mission is in Nasarawa state to authenticate project implementation results so far and to see concrete deliverables of the four components of the ACReSAL Project.

Mr. Precious Agbesor, a representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), commended the World Bank and Federal Government of Nigeria for the partnership. He noted that component B of the ACReSAL Project (Community Climate Resilience) is the heart of the project, and FAO is supporting ACReSAL under this component to restore 350,000 hectares of degraded land.

Dr. Napoleon Gyobe Elias, the Nasarawa State ACReSAL Project Coordinator, outlined state-specific activities designed to enhance adaptive capacities and promote sustainable growth in the state.
End

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

Published

on

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

By: Zagazola Makama

The Nigerian Air Component of Operation Hadin Kai have executed a coordinated strike on a major terrorist enclave located at Maisani in the Timbuktu Triangle general area of Borno State, killing several ISWAP terrorists.

Intelligence sources told Zagazola Makama that the air interdiction mission conducted on May 4, 2025, at approximately 1800 hours, was informed by credible intelligence and sustained surveillance, targeted terrorists’ structures cleverly concealed and camouflaged under thick shrubs in the area.

The sources said that using advanced platforms, the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) conducted a focused Air Interdiction (AI) mission, resulting in the destruction of the identified enemy hideouts and the neutralisation of an unconfirmed number of insurgent fighters.

According to the sources, Post-strike Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) obtained from our Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms confirmed that the airstrike achieved its intended objectives, dealing a significant blow to terrorists.

Nigerian Air Force Neutralises Terrorists in Successful Air Interdiction at Maisani

Continue Reading

News

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

Published

on

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

By: Michael Mike

As the world marks the 2025 Environment Day, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has appealed to the World Bank for support on capacity building, data and in addressing the challenges poised by Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) in the country.

Head of Department, National Accounts Energy and Environment at the NBS, Dr. Baba Madu made the appeal at the 2025 Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Conference on Thursday in Abuja with support from the World Bank in. collaboration with the NBS and the Federal Ministry of Environment.

Madu while noting that the NCA was a new area Nigeria must exploit to further boost the nation’s economy, said for Nigeria to grow and be at par with other developed nations, there was need to account for her natural resources.

He said: “NCA has been tasked with the crucial role of integrating natural capital into economic measurement. It is impossible to measure the economy accurately without accounting for natural resources. Issues such as environmental degradation, afforestation, desertification, and climate change all directly impact productivity.

“Productivity in turn, influences output—one of the core components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). These environmental factors must be reflected across all economic activity sectors to present a more accurate picture of national output.”

While stating that Nigeria currently has data on NCA in Nigeria, the NBS official however raised concerns over the huge data gap from relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the environment sector.

He said: “We are not doing badly but we need to improve on what we are doing. In terms of data sources, I can tell you there’s a big gap because these are new areas needed to be exploited.”

Programme Leader on Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Vina Vutukuru, said there was need to jointly
explore the vital role of national accounting in national development plans and to brainstorm on how Nigeria could institutionalize it.

He said: “Establishing the national capital accounting as part of the national account system will allow us to measure the economic value of ecosystem services such as clean air, water and biodiversity which are essential for our well-being and economic prosperity.”

Vutukuru commended Nigeria for having “very bold ambitions” as far as responding to climate change was concerned saying, “That shows the commitment of the policy makers here towards the issue of climate.

“But I think to back up that aspiration and the aggressive goals that Nigeria has set for itself, the foundational thing for those goals to materialize those objectives to come true is a very strong natural account system.”

Head of Media, National Council on Climate Change Secretariat (NCCCS), Chioma Azie who represented her Director General, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe at the event, described Nigeria as a very ambitious country, stressing that natural resources was instrumental to achieving all the objective of climate action.

She said: “Technology, policy reforms, behavioral changes has a role to play but natural resources is very key because they’re underpinning the mitigation and adaptation for climate action.

“If you look at Nigeria’s NDC, the NCA is an avenue to provide raw materials that we could use to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies.

“If you look at what we have done in terms of this NDC in 2020.which is the second leg of the NDC, we identified a lot of mitigation activities within this mentioned sectors of ours. In agricultural sector we talked about smart agriculture. What is smart agriculture without natural resources?

“We talked about biomass, what is biomass without natural resources? We also spoke about land use changes and that is natural resources, we talk about natural solutions and we talked about also afforestation, reafforestation. Those are mitigation potentials of our NDC. So, we cannot achieve our NDC without SEEA.

“What you cannot be able to account for is recorded as if it is not done so if we know what is existing in terms of the reservoirs we have for natural resources, it can inform the scope of the mitigation activities we’re going to be imputing in the NDC 3.0,” she said.

Nigeria Looks to World Bank to Tackle Challenges of National Capital Accounting

Continue Reading

News

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible

Published

on

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible
.. Says Police Service Commission Not Denied Access

By: Michael Mike

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said all its verification service platforms are functional and accessible to all partners including all security agencies.

The Commission, in a statement on Thursday by its spokesman, Dr. Kayode Adegoke said it is aware of the purported ”inability of the Police Service Commission (PSC) to access the NIMC verification server,” insisting that the “information is not only misleading but also inaccurate.”

Adegoke said: “To set the record straight, the NIMC granted verification access to all Nigerian Police formations for the verification of the National Identification Number (NIN). The NPF, PSC and other security agencies have been enjoying uninterrupted verification services for over five years.

“NIMC has provided top-notch verification services for recruitment into the Nigeria Police Force, as conducted by the PSC and at no time have there been any complaints or issues regarding NIN Verification by the NPF or PSC.”

Adegoke, in the statement, claimed that: “The Commission has a robust and harmonious working relationship with the Nigerian Police Force and the Police Service Commission. The Information Communications and Technology (ICT) department of the Nigeria Police Force is actively managing the long-standing verification and integration service between the NIMC and all Nigeria Police formations. NIMC will continue to provide flawless verification services for the purpose of recruitment, security mapping, cybercrime control, and any other security matters.”

He explained that: “The framework by which NIMC provides services to the security agencies was recently restructured for standardization and effective implementation, following consultation with the Office of the National Security Adviser, and NPF has confirmed the verification services have continued to be available. We therefore believe that any service interruption experienced by PSC may be due to internal matters.”

He promised that: “NIMC is committed to providing excellent verification services to the PSC, NPF and all its partners but the terms and conditions inherent must be adhered to for uninterrupted flow of service.”

NIMC Insists All Its Verification Services, Functional, Accessible

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights