FG needs $600m loan to tackle environmental problems in 19 states
The federal government has said it plans to borrow $600m from the World Bank to address environmental degradation in the 19 northern states and the FCT. The National Programme Coordinator, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, Salisu Dahiru, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the HarvestPlus consultative workshop with the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid […]
The federal government has said it plans to borrow $600m from the World Bank to address environmental degradation in the 19 northern states and the FCT.
The National Programme Coordinator, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, Salisu Dahiru, said this on Wednesday in Abuja at the HarvestPlus consultative workshop with the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) states level stakeholders.
Dahiru, represented by ACReSAL Water Resources Specialist, Ayuba Anda Yalaks, said “The project entails to address the issue and challenges of environmental degradation in terms of deforestation, erosion, stormwater management, and meeting the needs of the people in terms of food production.
“There is the need to restore this land to better productive use. Being that we are also restoring the landscape. The project has to be implemented at the community level because the community people are those that are very impacted.
“We are targeting the 19 northern states plus the FCT. The cost of this project is about $600m for a period of six years. It is a loan that the federal government is obtaining from the World Bank.”
He also said the project was not the creation of the federal government in Abuja, but initiation of the various state governments considering their peculiarity and needs.
He said, “This project has a high political will whereby all the Nigerian governors had to meet virtually chaired by the Northern Governors’ Forum, to ensure that they go on with the project as requested.
“The states are fully participating and the communities are also aware. Sensitisation is already going on even before the effectiveness of the project.”
Asked why the southern region was excluded from the project, he said, the south is only affected in terms of gully erosion and flooding.
Speaking earlier, the Country Manager, HarvestPlus Nigeria, Yusuf Dollah, said the meeting was to enable stakeholders to share ideas on how to promote climate tolerant crops.
He said, “HarvestPlus and ACReSAL came together to ensure that we provide technical support for the process. Now, we are promoting crops that are climate tolerant.”