The Kwara State Government has announced plans to expand the reach of its Community Revolving Fund under the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes project, increasing the number of beneficiaries from 1,000 to about 1,400 across rural communities.
The disclosure was made in a statement issued on Friday by the Communication Officer of KWACReSAL, Okanlawon Taiwo.
The intervention, supported by the World Bank, is aimed at promoting agricultural growth, improving livelihoods and strengthening environmental resilience through a revolving loan structure targeted at community-based groups.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the initiative during the opening of a two-day revalidation, retraining and post-disbursement support programme for beneficiaries held in Ilorin on Wednesday.
Represented by the Commissioner for Environment and Chairman of the State Steering Committee for ACReSAL, Nafisat Musa-Buge, the governor described the programme as a strategic intervention for grassroots economic empowerment and sustainable development.
“The Community Revolving Fund is a strategic intervention aimed at improving livelihoods, strengthening resilience and expanding economic opportunities across benefiting communities,” she said.
According to Musa-Buge, the first phase of the programme covers 50 Community Interest Groups drawn from 10 communities, with about 1,000 beneficiaries already participating in the scheme.
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She explained that each participating community receives 25,000 dollars, distributed among five Community Interest Groups within the communities.
“The fund is structured as a repayable loan in line with World Bank guidelines, and beneficiaries are expected to repay within eight months after disbursement,” she stated.
She added that repayments made by beneficiaries would be recycled into the scheme to ensure continuous access to funding for other rural dwellers.
“The revolving nature of the fund is designed to guarantee sustainability and widen access to economic opportunities for rural dwellers,” Musa-Buge added.
The commissioner further explained that the retraining exercise was organised to equip beneficiaries with practical knowledge, improve implementation capacity and minimise post-disbursement challenges.
Also speaking, the Project Coordinator of ACReSAL in Kwara State, Shamsideen Aregbe, said the programme was focused on boosting productivity and ensuring sustainable growth among beneficiaries.
“The success of ACReSAL rests on the success of our beneficiaries, and that is why we are strengthening their capacity through revalidation and retraining,” he said.
In his goodwill message, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Abubakar Ayinla, said the intervention had already begun yielding positive results in rural communities, particularly in environmental improvement and local economic activities.
He urged beneficiaries to make productive use of the funds, noting that compliant communities would continue to benefit from future interventions under the programme.