The Nigerian Government in collaboration with the World Bank and key stakeholders, has commenced the validation of nine Strategic Catchment Management Plans aimed at strengthening sustainable water resources management, restoring degraded landscapes, and improving climate resilience across several states in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, told the Workshop for the Presentation and Validation of Nine Strategic Catchment Management Plans on Monday that the initiative is aimed at addressing environmental challenges affecting millions of people across the region.
Lawal noted that communities in the northern region continue to face environmental pressures that threaten livelihoods and food security.
“As we meet here in Abuja, millions of our fellow citizens in the 19 Northern States and the FCT face tough daily battles: advancing deserts, unreliable rains, degraded farmlands, and shrinking water bodies. These are not abstract problems; they threaten the food on our tables, the income of our farmers and herders, and the stability of our communities,” he said.
The minister explained that the ACReSAL project represents Nigeria’s strategic response to environmental degradation and climate-related challenges.
“The ACReSAL Project represents Nigeria’s bold response to these challenges. As the anchor Ministry, the Federal Ministry of Environment, working closely with Water Resources and Agriculture, is proud to lead this initiative. Our goal is clear: to strengthen climate resilience, restore degraded landscapes, and empower communities to manage their resources sustainably,” he said.
According to him, the nine Strategic Catchment Management Plans include Malenda, Oshin-Oy, Gurara Gbako, Aloma-Konshisha, Benue-Mada, Sarkin-Pawa-Kaduna, Lungur-Gongola, Gaji-Lamurde, and Hawul-Kilange.
He added that the plans cover ACReSAL states including Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, the Federal Capital Territory, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.
“These plans are more than documents. They capture the voices you raised during consultations last year. They identify real challenges-deforested landscapes, eroding soils, shrinking water sources, overgrazed lands and offer practical, community-centered solutions. They guide where we invest next: in tree planting, better water management, climate-smart agriculture, and quick-win actions that bring immediate benefits to households and farms,” he said.
Speaking at the Workshop the Managing Director of Mecon Engineering and Services Ltd, Chuka Ofodile, explained that catchments represent natural watershed boundaries whose development must be driven by the water resources within them.
“What these catchments are are natural water, what we call watershed boundaries, and these watershed boundaries are economic zones propelled centrally by the water resources within them, and these water resources determine the future of the catchment,” he said.
According to him, several other elements within the catchments also influence their development.
“Not only that, other elements within the catchments, the rock type, the mineral deposits within the catchment, and the people, the culture, and even the religion. Now, what happens is that these elements all put together can mould the future of a catchment that has very, we tried as much as possible to reduce the political lines, in other words, the state boundaries, because river systems don’t have state boundaries. Water resources, water reservoirs don’t have state and even international boundaries,” he said.
Ofodile explained that the objective of the initiative is to develop economic zones driven by water resources and sustainable planning.
“So, the idea is to let us develop an economic zone that is based on the water resources and to try to develop plans that can help with the sustainable and economic development of the entire region or all the communities that are domiciled in that catchment,” he said.
He noted that while previous national development plans had delivered results, continuous planning and monitoring remain crucial to sustaining investments.
“Over the years, we’ve had a lot of national development plans. We’ve had some investments, and they have worked, you know, but what we’re saying is that if there is no continuous planning, no continuous review of these resources and how they apply to one another within a catchment, then what we’re going to have is less and less profits and less and less investments, and more and more challenges. Like you talked about, biodiversity. Our biodiversity is what makes us wealthy,” he said.
He also stressed the importance of validation in ensuring local ownership of development projects.
“So validation is ownership because most of the time you find that projects, interventions, and implementations come from the top, and then the people at the local level just look at it and say it is not mine, it is their business.
“So the essence of validation is for everybody within that catchment to take ownership so that to sustain the development of the interventions or the implementations that will come within the catchment,” Ofodile added.
He further explained that technical committees made up of stakeholders within the catchments would guide the implementation of projects across short, medium, and long-term timelines.
Delivering a goodwill message on behalf of the World Bank Task Team Leader, Joy Agene, Director of Hydrology Henrietta Alhassan said the validation workshop marks a significant step toward strengthening sustainable water resource management.
She said that the World Bank acknowledged the technical work that went into the development of the plans.
“The World Bank recognizes the immense dedication, technical expertise, and collaboration that have shaped the strategic documents being validated today. Effective catchment management is not only a technical endeavor it is a cornerstone for resilient livelihoods, ecological stability, and long-term development.
“The work you are validating represents the voices of communities, the insights of practitioners, and the commitment of government and development partners to safeguarding these critical landscapes,” she said.
GIK/APA