The Building Resilience through Sustainable Agriculture project (BRSA) implemented by the leading development agency in the Northeast region, the AUN-Atiku Institute, was concluded on March 28, 2022.
Supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the project dissemination stage of BRSA, which began in September 2022, has now run its complete cycle and has been handed over to the Adamawa State Government according to the terms of the project.
Funded by the European Union (EU) and the German Ministry of Commerce and Business implemented in three Local Government Areas of Adamawa State, the close-out ceremony for the BRSA was held at the Golden Alpine Hotel, Jimeta, Yola. The event was attended by senior AUN management, including the Registrar and Vice President for Administration, Dr. Andy Okolie, and the Vice President for Finance, Mr. Olanrewaju Olanipekun as well as various program officers from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) across the state.
Two thousand farmers in Mubi North, Mubi South, and Maiha LGAs received training, seedlings, and other support from the Building Resilience through Sustainability Agriculture project (BRSA), which aimed at identifying the needs of people displaced by the insurgency in the northeast, returnee IDPs, and their host communities.
As an essential contributor to food security and national development, agriculture has continued to face challenges in the northeast region of Nigeria. This is the primary reason the German aid agency GIZ contracted the Atiku Institute to implement and facilitate the project. AUN-Atiku Institute has established a reputation for implementing intervention projects that impact lives in the region.
This fact was amply buttressed by the AUN Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Yusuf Attahiru: "At AUN, we are community-oriented, we go into partnership and relationship with so many organizations, and one of the most important organizations we have partnered with is the GIZ, and the BRSA Project is now at its end, and we are very proud to have accomplished the milestone of the project."
Provost Attahiru commended all BRSA and GIZ project staff; he expressed hope that the relationship between AUN and GIZ will continue and bring positive change in the region and Nigeria at large.
BRSA's Chief of Party and AUN's Administrator of Grants and Contracts, Dr. Audu Liman, noted that the partnership is very important for AUN. The donors, he said, trust AUN as the facilitating institution to take more responsibility in reaching out to vulnerable groups.
Dr. Liman stressed the mutual understanding between AUN and GIZ, which he said is based on a mutual understanding of the mission and vision of both organizations. He said that AUN-Atiku Institute's primary responsibility is to give back to society.
The Head of Programs GIZ Abuja branch, Mr. Givseppe Scuto, noted that the GIZ-funded program aimed at supporting resilience in northeast Nigeria, adding that more community development projects are in the pipeline.
Mr. Scuto thanked the American University of Nigeria for the support and effort toward the successful implementation of the project.
The Permanent Secretary in the Adamawa State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs. Dorothy Y. Augustine, also thanked AUN and the donors for taking what should be the government's responsibility. She said the state government would ensure that the inherited project is sustained and extended.
The dissemination and close-out of the BRSA project also open the door to new opportunities for the Adamawa State Government to build on what the American University of Nigeria has done and new opportunities for farmers and beneficiaries.
The event also featured a video presentation and testimonies of some beneficiaries of the BSRA Project.
A representative of the beneficiaries, Hajiya Zainab Garuba from Mubi North, said she has never received the kind of intervention she got from the BRSA Project. She explained that she is now capable of training others from what she has learned during the training. "I was not into farming before the intervention, but I will never leave farming because of the income and experience I got from the BRSA Project."
Another representative of the beneficiaries from Mubi South, Mallam Idris Adamu, expressed gratitude for the skills he acquired in the project. He thanked AUN and enjoined other beneficiaries to continue to practice what they had learned in the course of the project.
Report and photographs by Chiedozie Joseph