PlanetPulse.NG

For decades, Nigeria’s healthcare and its fight against some of its deadliest diseases has relied heavily on support from international donors.

From HIV treatment centres and malaria interventions to tuberculosis control programmes and life-saving vaccines, foreign assistance has helped millions of Nigerians access healthcare services that might otherwise have remained out of reach.

But that support is beginning to dry up, and that was the concern raised by former Minister of Health and Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Canada, Prof. Isaac Adewole, at the 25th anniversary celebration and public health symposium of APIN Public Health Initiatives in Abuja.

Nigeria is stepping up efforts to tackle desertification and environmental degradation in the northern region with the validation of nine Strategic Catchment Management Plans designed to restore damaged landscapes and safeguard critical water resources.

The initiative is part of the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes Project (ACReSAL), a climate resilience programme supported by the World Bank and implemented by the Federal Ministry of Environment alongside other federal agencies.

At a validation workshop in Abuja, government officials, environmental experts and development partners warned that ecological pressures in northern Nigeria are already affecting millions of people, putting food security, rural livelihoods and community stability at risk.

Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, said the environmental challenges facing the region are already visible in the daily lives of farmers, herders and rural communities.

“These are not abstract environmental concerns. They threaten the food on our tables, the income of our farmers and herders, and the stability of our communities,” Lawal said.

According to him, expanding desert landscapes, unpredictable rainfall, shrinking water sources and declining soil quality are steadily weakening agricultural productivity across the 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory.