Niger to Sustain Counterpart Funding of ACReSAL Project, Congratulates New NPC

Niger state government has reiterated commitment to partnering with World Bank through the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) Project in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by the Chairman Niger State Technical Committee of the ACReSAL and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Engineer Lucky Barau during a congratulatory visit to the newly appointed National Project Coordinator of the ACReSAL, Mr. Abdulhamid Umar in Abuja,  yesterday.

Engineer Lucky Barau who represented the Commissioner for environment, described Niger state as an agregarian state hugely endowed with the largest land mass in the country and will benefit immensely from the ACReSAL project. 

The Permanent Secretary emphasized that the state is poised to sustaining counterpart funding of the project to achieve desired results. 

He said the state would always approach the National office of the project with a view to exploring areas of collaboration and support to tackle  the challenges of land degradation, desert encroachment among other environmental related issues. 

In his remarks, the National Project Coordinator, Abdulhamid Umar underscored the importance of the project implementation not only across the Nineteen (19) Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) but specifically in Niger State. 

He said Niger state’s proximity to FCT had huge advantage for the state adding that the Power State cannot afford to be left behind in terms of achieving ACReSAL related results hence the need to cement the already established synergy. 

National Project Cordinator assured the state delegation that he would operate an open door policy to achieve Green environment and improved livelihood especially for the rural communities stressing that his office would be accessible to participating states.

He expressed appreciation to the State Steering and Technical Committees for the visit, show of love and concern. 

Earlier, the State ACReSAL Project Cordinator, Alhaji Usman Garba Ibeto said the aim of the visit was to congratulate the ACReSAL National Project Cordinator on his well deserved appointment.

Ibeto, while describing the National Project Cordinator’s appointment as a round peg in a round hole, expressed optimism that his stewardship will provide the needed project coordination and guidance for the successful implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the $700M project on Watershed management, Land Remediation, Restoration and Developing Community Resilience to land degradation.