ACReSAL’s week-long Lagos retreat to review project implementation progress

The Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project is currently hosting a high-level retreat to review project implementation progress, enhance stakeholders’ understanding, and set new milestones for speedy implementation.

Participants at the opening of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) retreat in Lagos on Monday, May 12, 2025

The retreat, themed “Strengthening Coordination and Advancing Effective ACReSAL Implementation”, commenced in Lagos on Monday, May 12, and it is expected to end on Friday, May 17, 2025.

In his welcome address, Abdulhamid Umar, the National Project Coordinator (NPC), ACReSAL, said: “The retreat will bring together esteemed stakeholders, including Ministers of Environment, Agriculture and Food Security, and Water Resources and Sanitation, the Leader World Bank Task Team, National Project Coordinator, Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries of state Ministries of Environment, Agriculture and Water Resources.”

The NPC of ACReSAL revealed that stakeholders attending the retreat were drafted from the 19 Northern States and FCT (which makes up the coverage area), State Project Coordinators, Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), the 20 states and FCT coordinators and the ACReSAL team.

“The ACReSAL Project s expected to be implemented between 2022 and 2028 with implementing Ministries such as Federal and States Ministries of Environment, Agriculture and Food Security, as well as Water Resources and Sanitation,” he stressed.

In her remarks, Dr. Joy Iganya Agene, Task Team Leader of ACReSAL Project, stated that the retreat was organised to review project performance in the 19 participating states and FCT as well as set new milestones for speedy implementation of the project across all participating states.

Agene, who also doubled as a Senior Environmental Specialist with the World Bank, disclosed: “Apart from identifying and addressing potential gaps and bottlenecks, the retreat will also enhance stakeholders understanding of project operations for participating states.”

The Task Team Leader listed some of the key deliverables of the retreat to include coordinating platforms for project sustainability, such as policy development and validation of strategic catchment management plans.

“We decided to have a session on policy work. At this point, we need to start looking back at what we have done. Have we done it very well? What we need to do and how we need to do them going forward. So, you will be listening to a lot of presentations also from the MDAs, the federal government, and others.

“Prior to the session with the ministers, we agreed that a Terms of Reference (TOR) would be provided for all stakeholders.”

According to her, the TOR that will be helpful in the policy work, and it is a draft, will be shared with everyone before leaving the office.

“So, what we are going to do is to give you a generic TOR that will help guide the process, but the process has to be state-specific” she charged the stakeholders.

“At the end of the session, key takeaways from the retreat will be to enhance stakeholders capacity to implement project activities, improve understanding of project operations and institutional arrangements and identification of solutions to potential challenges,” Agene opined.

The ACReSAL Project, initiated on November 19, 2021, aims to address critical challenges in Northern Nigeria, including poverty, low literacy, environmental degradation, and poor agricultural productivity.

The project’s development objective is to increase the implementation of sustainable landscape management practices in Northern Nigeria and strengthen Nigeria’s long-term enabling environment for integrated climate-resilient landscape management.

The ACReSAL Project is supported by the Federal Government of Nigeria and fully funded by the World Bank.