By Khalid Idris Doya
The Gombe State Coordinator of the ACReSAL project, Ambassador Sani Adamu Jauro has said that the state will this week witness the N12.5bn contract signing for addressing issues of climate change under the Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Land (ACReSAL).
Under the programme, he said, young talents will be harvested to become ambassadors of the state in making sure they imbibe the culture of tree planting thereby catching them young, and with the support of Gombe state Government and partners like UNICEF in sustaining the programme, there will surely be light at the end of the tunnel.
Jauro was speaking at the commemoration of the 2023 World Children’s celebration with the theme ‘Climate Change’ organized by UNICEF Bauchi field office in Gombe yesterday where he said that the ACResal project gives much priority to women and children with a revolutionary agenda on infrastructural intervention.
Ambassador Sani Adamu Jauro, recalled that the state government had, prior to receiving the World Bank approval to commence the project, approved the sum of N503m as part of its counterpart funding.
Jauro said, “Before receiving the approval of the World Bank to commence the programme, His Excellency, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya approve N503m as a counterpart funding money for the project, much earlier than some states in the North that are richer than Gombe in terms of federal allocation and even revenue generation”.
“ACReSAL as a project intends in the sixth year of its life to reclaim not less than one million hectres of land through different kinds of afforestation activities. And if you divide it into a number of 19 Northern states that are participating in ACReSAL plus FCT, making 20, each state is going to reclaim not less than 50, 000 hectres of land”.
He explained that the project intends to work in three major areas that will improve the living conditions of the people, in particular those at the grassroots that include agricultural revolution, exploiting potentials in water resources sector and environment - addressing its multidimensional challenges facing the state for decades.
Also speaking, the state commissioner of education, Prof A'ishatu Umar Maigari noted with delight that Gombe state has slot of energy, resources and manpower into the environment connected to the state schools to catch the children young.
Prof. Aishatu Maigari thumped up her speech thus “Gombe state is the centre of the North East, it is the Jewel in the Savannah, it is the number state in science, technology and innovation, it is the heart of industrial hub, it is first in so and so, so whatever you think of, Gombe state has everything”.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Office-in-Charge/Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Nigeria, Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Clement Adams, sponsored of the Children’s Day commemoration ceremony, said that the day is being celebrated to draw attention on issues affecting children with a view to make their lives better in the society.
Dr. Clement Adams said, “What can stakeholders do to make life better for the children that we all have brought to this world? This year’s theme is on climate change, and it is observed that climate is changing practically, so what can we do as stakeholders to make our planet a better place for us to live.”
Adams explained that it is a day that children can remind themselves of things we can do to make them better citizens that could positively contribute to the society, and advised the media celebrating the day to make the world a better place for the children to live.
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