Plateau among states seeking $500m ACReSAL funding boost

Plateau State is among eight states in northern Nigeria whose governors have been identified as supporters of a proposed $500 million additional financing for the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project.

The Director-General of the Think Nigeria First Initiative (TNFI), Abubakar Tsanni, disclosed this at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday.

Mr Tsanni called on the federal government and the World Bank to conclude the financing arrangement without further delay.

He said governors, traditional rulers, farmers, herders and women’s groups across northern Nigeria supported the proposed financing because of the benefits they had reportedly witnessed in their communities.

He listed Plateau alongside Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kebbi, Kaduna, Jigawa and Benue states, whose governors, he said, had personally commissioned, inspected or flagged off interventions under the project.

However, the statement did not establish whether the Plateau State Government had formally endorsed the proposed additional financing or committed counterpart funds to the next phase.

Mr Tsanni said ACReSAL was supporting efforts to improve livelihoods and promote climate-resilient agricultural practices, including greenhouse farming.

He identified university students in Plateau, Kogi and Kebbi states as beneficiaries of training in modern greenhouse farming on their campuses, although he did not provide details of the institutions involved or the number of students trained in Plateau.

The TNFI director-general said women accounted for 47 per cent of ACReSAL’s 4.4 million direct beneficiaries, underscoring the project’s reported reach among vulnerable groups and rural communities.

He cited Wurno, where a farmer who had spent 27 years on an irrigation scheme reportedly said the project had restored hope, and Nguru, where herders and fishermen had returned to a wetlands that had remained dry for 12 years.

Mr Tsanni also disclosed that participating states had released ₦22 billion in counterpart funding for the project.

He said a $9.5 million Community Revolving Fund distributed to 381 communities was being repaid and re-lent to support further community-level interventions.

According to him, Benue and Nasarawa states had established agencies to ensure the sustainability of project assets.

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He added that the federal ministers of environment, water resources and agriculture had jointly participated in ACReSAL’s mid-term review in Kaduna.

Mr Tsanni said the push for additional financing was not a request for charity but an effort to secure sustainable investment through continuity, shared responsibility and self-reliance.

He urged governors, traditional rulers, legislators and community leaders across northern Nigeria to publicly state their positions on the project’s reported benefits and support its continuation.

The proposed $500 million additional financing would provide further funding for ACReSAL, although details of the planned expenditure, the approval status of the financing and the timeline for its release were not provided in the statement.

For Plateau, further details on the proposed financing, the state’s formal position and the specific interventions expected under the next phase would help clarify what the funding could mean for communities and beneficiaries across the state.