The final phase of stakeholders’ engagement for the development of 20 Catchment Management Plans has begun in Gombe State, bringing together key institutional stakeholders from seven states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Taraba, Yobe, Plateau, and Gombe.
The engagement aims to explore potentials and discuss challenges in the Gaji-Lamurde, Hawal-Kilunga, and Gongola catchments.
This initiative marks the completion of the broader process to develop 20 Strategic Catchment Management Plans across Nigeria, with the ACReSAL Project supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria in this endeavor. So far, nine plans have been developed and validated, and stakeholder engagements have been completed for eight catchments.
The National Project Coordinator, Abdulhamid Umar, emphasised that the catchment plans are designed to capture a shared vision from stakeholders, ensuring their input reflects real needs within communities. He noted that the process would help attract investments and channel project interventions directly to the people, making implementation easier for investors and more beneficial for local communities.
The Commissioner for Water, Environment, and Forest Resources in Gombe State, Mohammed Said Fawu, described the engagement as timely and aligned with the state’s ongoing environmental efforts. He highlighted the state’s commitment to environmental renewal, citing the Gombe Goes Green initiative, which has led to the planting of over five million trees in the past five years with support from ACReSAL.
The Gombe State Project Coordinator, Amb. Sani Adamu Jauro, also emphasised the importance of the catchment management plans in improving livelihoods, boosting agricultural activities, and strengthening policy frameworks for natural resource management.
The engagement was attended by various stakeholders, including the Gombe State Commissioner, National Project Coordinator, Royal Fathers, ACReSAL Project Coordinators, and institutional stakeholders from Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, NGOs, Academia and others.
As part of the opening activities for the six-day strategic engagement, Gombe ACReSAL did a symbolic distribution of 6,220 bags of drought-resistant seeds to farmer associations, including rice, maize, millet, and guinea corn.