FG Mulls Plan for $600m World Bank Facility to Rebuild North

Federal Government has revealed plans to borrow $600 million from the World Bank to tackle environmental degradation in the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Ayuba Yalaks, national project coordinator, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) ACReSAL, stated this at the Harvest Plus, ICRISAT Consultative Workshop, yesterday, in Abuja.

Yalaks, who was represented by Water Resources Specialist, explained that the fund is for the implementation of Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape (ACReSAL) project to increase the implementation of sustainable landscape management practices in the North and strengthen the environment for integrated climate-resilient landscaping.

The six-year project is based on the declining nutrient content of major crops in the last two decades due to climate change, forcing an expansion of the area under agriculture and increased import to meet the needs of Nigeria’s growing population.

Yalaks posited that the project was targeted at addressing environmental degradation in terms of deforestation, erosion, water management and meeting the people’s needs in food production.

He noted that pending the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the state government that initiated project had secured buy-in of state governors.

According to him, being a community-driven project, people at the community level have been well sensitised.

However, rebuilding of the North East region, which is ravaged by terrorism has received a major boost, as the Kingdom of Belgium expressed its readiness to commit €5 million yearly towards the project.

Maj-Gen. Paul Tarfa (rtd), board chairman, North East Development Commission (NEDC) disclosed this last week during a consultative meeting, adding that up to $6.7 billion was required in four years for recovery and peace-building across the six affected states in the region.

Daniel Bertrand, Ambassador of Belgium to Nigeria, who communicated the position of the Belgian government to the NEDC, yesterday, in Abuja, stressed that the country was also ready to help the Nigerian authorities in other areas aside humanitarian assistance.

Bertrand said: “We are here on a courtesy visit, because Belgium is deeply involved in humanitarian assistance in the North East part of the country. I personally visited Borno twice to better understand the organisation and to know what we can do together because Belgium has very strong interest in developing its bilateral relationship with Nigeria in business, commerce and human relationship.

“We, in the North East part of the country, especially from the humanitarian point of view, are at the disposal of the Nigerian authorities to do better.”