KWACReSAL SSC Meets, Renews Commitment to Accelerated Project implementation

The State Steering Committee (SSC) for the Kwara Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (KWACReSAL) has held another routine meeting to deliberate on important activities of the project in the first and second quarters of the year to shape strategies for the following quarter.

Presiding over the meeting that took place at the conference room of the Ministry of Environment in Ilorin, the  Commissioner for Environment who doubles as Chairman of the State Steering Committee for ACReSAL, Hajiah Nafisat Musa-Buge, acknowledged that progress is being made in the Project, citing a number of activities that have taken place over the past months.

The Chairman, however, called for concerted efforts by the State Project Management Unit (SPMU) to accelerate implementation of key programmes, especially land restoration and reclamation.

According to the Commissioner, land restoration is at the heart of the ACReSAL Project and all efforts must be made to record substantial progress on it.

Also present at the meeting was the Co-Chairman of the State Steering Committee and Commissioner of Agriculture, Dr. Abdulafees Abolore. The Permanent Secretaries of the Ministries of Environment, Agriculture, and Finance were also in attendance. The Director of Engineering Services at the Ministry of Water Resources represented the Commissioner of Water Resources and Co-Chairman of the State Steering Committee.

The Committee received briefings and general updates on the Project from the State Project Coordinator, Alhaji Shamsideen Olatunbosun Aregbe, who highlighted the programmes successfully executed between February and June 2025. He listed them as including distribution of 16 tractors and several farm inputs, installation of solar energy and procurement of ICT equipment for line ministries, among others. Alhaji Aregbe also gave updates on the GIS Baseline Mapping, the GIS Lab for line ministries, and the GRM/GBV training and gender mapping for which a consultant has been selected.

The SPC later invited the Natural Resources Officer (NRO), Mr. Salihu Hussein, to give specific updates on the land restoration programme of Lata in Patigi Local Government, and the Food Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The NRO said more than 80 per cent of the seedlings to be planted at Lata have been received and land preparation has been carried out until a security concern came up, and work on the project was paused. He assured that work will resume now that the security situation is favourable.

The NRO added that some thousand hectares of land will also be restored in Shonga, Alapa, Gidan Magajiya, and Kaima communities of the State under the FAO programme, stating further that work is currently ongoing at the sites and land preparation has been successfully carried out.

The State Project Coordinator also recalled that a retreat was organised for members of the State Steering and Technical Committee to boost their capacity and enrich their understanding of the ACReSAL Project.

The meeting ended on a positive note with a renewed commitment of the Kwara ACReSAL team to speed up the implementation of the project in the State for the benefit of communities.

Okanlawon Taiwo 

KWACReSAL 

07030113331