Mr. Abdulhamid Umar
National Project Coordinator, ACReSAL
Mr. Abdulhamid Umar has provided strategic leadership to the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project, one of Nigeria’s largest interventions in land restoration, water-resource management and climate resilience across Northern Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.
Under his coordination, ACReSAL has scaled rapidly. By its 2026 mid-term review, the project had placed more than 922,000 hectares of degraded land under restoration and reached more than 9 million beneficiaries, far exceeding its original six-year beneficiary target.
The project’s impact includes landscape restoration, water access, climate-smart agriculture, catchment management and livelihood support. Its interventions are designed not merely to repair degraded land but to strengthen the ability of communities to withstand drought, desertification, food insecurity and other climate pressures.
Umar’s background in development projects and digital identity infrastructure has also strengthened his capacity to manage large, multi-state programmes involving government, communities, development partners and technical institutions.
The Daily Times of Nigeria honours Mr. Abdulhamid Umar with the Sustainability Award for turning climate resilience and environmental restoration into measurable community-level outcomes and for leading one of Nigeria’s most significant landscape-restoration programmes.