4m Nigerians to benefit from UK’s £95m investment

About four million Nigerians, including two million women, will benefit from a United Kingdom’s (UK) £95 million investment.

The UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, announced it yesterday at the COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where he made a draft of the UK adaptation-related announcements, a statement by the UK Deputy High Commission disclosed on Tuesday.

• Gov’ship race: Uncertainty over fate of PDP, APC candidates in 4 states
• BUK to host Media Trust’s Kano gubernatorial debate

The fund will increase productivity and adapt to the effects of climate change while at the same time reducing emissions, the statement said.

Propcom+ builds on the UK Government’s investment in agriculture through the Propcom Mai-karfi programme in Nigeria.

“This new £95m Propcom+ programme is set to help address key barriers to sustainable agricultural development in Nigeria.  It will support the development of climate-resilient agricultural policies, actions, and investments that deliver nutrition, increase productivity, adapt and build resilience while reducing emissions, and protect and restore natural ecosystems.  For example, through the adoption and scaling of practices such as heat and flood tolerant crop varieties and integrated soil fertility management”, the statement also said.

UK Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Nigeria, Ben Llewellyn-Jones, said: “Nigeria is extremely vulnerable to climate change and land degradation. Climate risks are increasing, diminishing productive capacity, and contributing to worsening food insecurity. Farmers are on the front line and highly dependent on seasonal rainfall making them increasingly vulnerable to the changing and unpredictable climate.”