Benue Govt receives $6.6million from World Bank, Disburses N380M to Local Farmers

From Attah Ede , Makurdi

The Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank Nigeria office, Joy Iganya Agene, revealed that the Benue State Government has so far, accessed 6.6 million dollars from the bank through Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) to finance various agricultural projects in the State.

Iganya Agene who is the Task Team Lead for the ACReSAL project disclosed this during a courtesy call on Governor Hyacinth Alia at Government House Makurdi.

She said that the team were in the state on implementation support mission to assess, support and look at far the programme had gone in Benue State.

She stated that the team have visited some communities in Gboko, Makurdi, Vandeikya, Naka and Adoka where ACReSAL is undertaking projects to support local farmers and improve their livelihoods, stressing that there were challenges.

so far, indicating that the programme has so far recorded great success in the state and the money was judiciously put to proper use.

Agene, however commended the state government led by governor Hyacinth Alia and the state ACReSAL team for playing their respective roles in ensuring that the programme worked well in Benue axis, assuring that with this success, Benue stands to benefit more from the programme.

“The state need to have a workable design with catchment that will be acceptable by the bank. Have a catchment areas that will be acceptable and put in place E.I.A to be able to gain more.

Also speaking, the director agriculture federal ministry of agriculture and food security and National Project Coordinator for the ACReSAL Project in the 19 northern states, Prince Abdulhamid Umar, commended Governor Hyacinth Alia and his government for supporting ACReSAL in the state.

“This ACReSAL project in Benue is a brainchild of Governor Hyacinth Alia. The 19 northern states in Nigeria are participating in the programme which will last for six years.

He said Governor Alia paid N1billion counterpart to World Bank to be able to attract ACReSAL and the Community Revolving Funds (CFR) programme to the State.

In his remark, Benue state Governor, Hyacinth Alia, ACReSAL has procured 33 new tractors for use by farmers in the state through the World Bank

He said he would disbursed a total of N380,000,000, ($250,000.00) cheques to different community interest groups to undertake climate smart agricultural activities through the Community Revolving Fund (CRF) scheme of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) scheme.

After the courtesy call, the governor and the World Bank proceeded to commissioned and launched the disbursement of the funds.

Speaking at the event, Governor Alia, said he had already paid N1 Billion (N1,000,000,000) as counterpart fund for the ACReSAL programme and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to provide the needed support for the programme to continue to thrive in Benue for the overall good of the people of the state.

He acknowledged the relentless efforts of ACReSAL in safeguarding the environment, saying his government is proud to collaborate on a project of such consequence, designed to improve the lives of the people of Benue.

On his part, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Mr .Ugwu Odoh, applauded the Governor for his support to the project, adding that the ministry has been very supportive of the ACReSAL team in the state.

The State Project Coordinator, Benue ACReSAL, Victor Ama, said the ACReSAL programme seeks to amongst other things, address the challenges of land degradation and climate change in Northern Nigeria on a multi-dimensional scale, increase agricultural production, reduce poverty and improve standard of living with financing from the World Bank.