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Funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the primary focus of LINKS was to promote and facilitate investment, and support private sector innovations that will make Nigeria’s economy more competitive, productive, greener, and inclusive. The programme evolved, as FCDO priorities and the context in Nigeria changed, and LINKS increasingly focused on “green growth” – bringing together work in climate-smart agriculture and green innovation, whilst continuing its work on the promotion of investment and access to finance in our focal states of Kano, Kaduna and Jigawa.
LINKS, originally a £67.5 million programme intended to run from 2019 to 2026, closed instead in July 2023 due to FCDO budget cuts, with a spend of £12.1 million. Even though the project closed earlier than expected it managed to carry out a number of activities and innovations fostering economic growth in the North, and achieved significant impacts.
LINKS piloted and scaled green innovations in the agribusiness sector and other supporting value chains – such as energy and transport – in a way that is both inclusive and sustainable.
LINKS worked with private sector firms and service providers and aggregators to research and pilot Climate smart initiatives aimed at reducing methane emissions and increasing yield for rice cultivation, in introducing regenerative agricultural practices and establishment of a Carbon Project, and identification of sustainable fibre alternatives to cotton production.
We also worked with a wide range of actors to prove concepts, attract more private sector investment into our Northern Nigeria and facilitate financial flows into the region.
