By Grace Samuel
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) have approved a $50 million loan for the Yobe State Environmental and Climate Change Action Project (ECCAP) to enhance climate change resilience, boost food security, and improve livelihoods for people in northeast Nigeria.
The project cost, it was gathered, is estimated at $101.34 million with the AfDB providing a $50 million loan while the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) is expected to provide $30 million in co-financing.
On its part, the Yobe State Government will contribute $4.52 million in counterpart funding, and project beneficiaries are contributing $16.82 million.
Also, ECCAP will support the federal and state governments in their efforts to respond to the challenges of droughts and desertification, empower women by supplying small ruminants and providing cooking stoves to develop micro, small and medium-size enterprises, among other interventions. The project will also support the preparation of Yobe State’s Gender Policy.
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It was also gathered that the implementation of a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme will incentivise the population to maintain 2 million regenerated trees on farms and support payments for labour and related services to plant and maintain 20 million drought-resistant trees.
This project complements the bank’s and other Development Partners’ on-going and planned projects to address climate change and promote livelihood improvements in Yobe State.
Speaking during the Board of Directors’ approval of the project, African Development Bank Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said the project would help tackle general insecurity, climate vulnerability, food insecurity and build resilient livelihoods.
He said: “This is a very practical and granular project that tackles the issues of insecurity, more generally vulnerability, but also food security, and restoration of the degraded environment. It is all about how we build resilient livelihoods. This is a project that shows how we can do that in an integrated way.”
On his part, the Director General of the bank’s Nigeria Country Department, Lamin Barrow, said: “With the key interventions in afforestation and reforestation contributing to carbon sequestration, this green project will help reduce vulnerability to climate shocks, build the resilience of the target population and boost Nigeria’s efforts to meet its African Forestry Landscape Restoration Initiative goal to restore 4 million hectares of land degraded by climate change, a regional and global public good, and Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 15 targets.”
