By Mohammed Nasir Shuaibu (Bauchi State Correspondent)
No fewer than seven local government area councils will benefit from the five hundred million naira Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) project in Bauchi state.
Governor, Bala Mohammed stated this while speaking at the official launch of the project and stakeholders meeting held at the Command Guest House, Bauchi on Friday.
He disclosed that the State Government has so far released the sum of N500 million as counterpart funding for the implementation of the 6 years project in the selected communities.
He noted 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 or earn a living.
He 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. He said that something need to be done to get the project done.
The National Coordinator of the ACReSAL Project, Abdulhameed Umar, while reviewing the project, said that the success story has justified the objectives of the project.
He commended Bauchi State governor, Senator Bala Mohammed, for what he has been doing 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 the various negative environmental issues.
He then assured that the ACReSAL project will open more opportunities for effective service delivery in the environmental improvement in the state.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the State Project Coordinator of ACReSAL, Dr Kabiru Ibrahim, explained that so far, 12 Communities and interest groups (CIG) have been mobilized and trained in the 7 LGAs where 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 and promising to protect whatever infrastructure in the various communities. NNL.
