The Gombe State Government has released N2.2 billion to implement the Resettlement Action Plan under the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes.
The state Project Coordinator, Dr Sani Jauro, disclosed this on Saturday in Bauchi during a five-day training on Grievance Redress Mechanism for stakeholders involved in the ACReSAL project.
Our correspondent reports that the initiative is a six-year, World Bank-assisted project aimed at combating desertification, restoring one million hectares of degraded land by 2028, and boosting rural livelihoods across 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory. It focuses on sustainable landscape management, watershed rehabilitation, and climate resilience.
According to Jauro, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya provided the funds to ensure prompt payment of compensation and prevent disputes that could hinder the World Bank-supported initiative.
“His Excellency has given us an adequate amount of money to handle the Resettlement Action Plan. He released N2.2 billion for that purpose,” Jauro said.
He explained that nearly 700 persons had so far been compensated, though some complaints were received from beneficiaries.
“We have paid nearly 700 people. We received a number of complaints, and our state committee on compensation, together with specialists from the State Project Management Unit, community-level committees, and our focal NGO, visited all the locations.
“To the glory of the Almighty, we found only about 14 genuine complaints. That shows we have remained consistent in following the dictates of the project,” he added.
Jauro noted that most grievances stemmed from misunderstandings over valuation differences.
“Some people felt their neighbours were paid more than they were, without understanding differences in building standards or structures. On-site, we resolved all such issues,” he said.
The coordinator stressed that the project prioritises alternative dispute resolution to avoid litigation, which could stall implementation.
“We are a project that stays away from courts. Once you go into litigation, the World Bank will naturally stop implementation and investigate the root cause. That is why the governor insists we keep in touch with communities to ensure no group is disenfranchised,” he stated.
On the training, Jauro described it as a refresher course aimed at strengthening stakeholders’ knowledge of grievance redress in line with international best practices.
“In any setting where you have more than one person, there will be divergent views. This training is to ensure we manage grievances in a way that produces a win-win outcome — no victor, no vanquished — while achieving project results,” he said.
He added that the engagement level of participants indicated the objectives were being met.
“You can see from the feedback and the questions being asked that participants are engaging deeply. That is a clear signal we are achieving the desired result,” he said.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water, Environment and Forest Resources, Mohammed Abubakar, described the workshop as satisfactory and impactful.
“I can describe the workshop as very satisfactory because everybody understands what they are doing and saying,” he said.
Abubakar expressed optimism that the training would improve project activities, particularly in erosion control.
“As the Ministry of Environment, we are custodians of erosion control. This will impact us seriously because they are doing much on erosion control,” he noted.
He said grievances in the sector were minimal and largely resolved through dialogue.
“The mechanism we apply is dialogue with host communities, elders, traditional rulers and the experts in the ACReSAL project. We are resolving about 80 to 90 per cent of the grievances,” he said.
In his remarks, the District Head of Butake in Dukku Emirate, Abubakar Rashid, lauded the organisers, pledging that traditional rulers would leverage the knowledge gained to promote peace.
“We as community leaders are very close to the people. We will leverage the training on grievance redress mechanism to ensure peace. We will also cascade the knowledge to those who are not here,” he assured.
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