The Bauchi State Government has received a $2 million World Bank grant to address environmental issues in 45 communities across 20 LGAs as part of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Aridlanscapes (ACReSAL) Programme,
This was disclosed on Wednesday at the beginning of a four-day Stakeholders’ Engagement for Bauchi ACReSAL hosted at the Command Guest House by the State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed.
According to Mohammed, his administration released the sum of N500 million to the World Bank as a counterpart fund in order to facilitate the grant and kick off the project in the state.
The governor noted that N500 million more was placed in the 2023 budget to ensure there would be enough money for the initiative to launch successfully in the state’s seven pilot areas.
He noted that the state’s drive for joining the project was to deal with ecological issues and natural disasters in the state.
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In his words, “Our decision to participate in ACReSAL Project was an added effort of our state’s strive towards tackling the fragility and natural emergencies through development and implementation of a number of multi-sectoral initiatives over the last few years where we collaborated and leverage technical and financial assistance from multi-national donors, bilateral donors and Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies to address a number of ecological challenges in the state.
“Our motivation and interest to participate in ACReSAL Project was prepared by the State’s Technical Team and submitted to the World Bank. We even submitted it very late unfortunately, but within a period of two years, the state government assiduously pursued establishing the State Project Management Unit, deployment of competent staff, the release of vehicles to the SPMU and the release of counterpart funding to the tune of N500 million despite the dwindling resources.
“We also budgeted an additional N500 million in the 2023 budget just to make sure we have enough resources to meet the counterpart requirements, and I am told that in the assessment of the national body, we came second in the whole federation. This goes to show that we, as a state, are doing well and the Project Implementation Unit is doing very, very well.
“As a result of the foregoing and to appreciate the tremendous commitment demonstrated so far, I am pleased to inform you that our state through the SPMU has received the advance release of the sum of $2 million to commence the project implementation in earnest.”
Story was adapted from Nigerian Tribune
