By Mohammed Abubakar Dutse
As part of its efforts to arrest desertification and mitigate climate change, the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) said it has plans to plant at least 50 million assorted trees species its areas of operation.
The Director -General/Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Malam Sale Abubakar, who disclosed this ahead of the 10th anniversary celebration of the agency scheduled for Thursday in Dutse, Jigawa state, noted that the exercise would cover 11 states mostly in the northern part of the country.
Besides Jigawa, where it would focus on the distribution and planting of about 50 million date palm, the agency would extend the planting of various species of trees to other northern states within it’s spheres of coverage such as Katsina, Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi among others.
Abubakar added that NAGGW had since its inception planted more than 50 million seedlings, saying this year’s planting would be special. These plantation are there to combat desertification and mitigate the impending effects of climate change which the country had been experiencing in the past of years, especially in the far northern part of the country.
According to him, there had been lots of problems with the environment in places like Borno, Yobe, part of Jigawa, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Katsina states, a situation that has aggravated the security situation in those states.
“So we believe that by bringing a lot of this economic empowerment initiative on board, a lot of people will be engaged in productive activities thereby reducing incidents of idleness amongst the youths which will be better for the society”, he stated.
Abubakar said the choice of Dutse for the 10th anniversary was informed by the fact that the town was the epicenter of date palm in the northern hoping that the people of the state would develop active in the efforts, ” so that we can make the economy of this country faster than it is now.”
He explained that the date-palm planting initiative is part of their strategic efforts to combine economic development with the fight against environmental degradation.
He maintained that the 50 million date-palm seedlings will be distributed to women and youth inform of empowerment and plant it across 11 states over five years, starting with 5 million seedlings in 2025.
“Jigawa State, the leading producer of date palms, is targeted to receive 500,000 seedlings within this period and plant it , in collaboration with the government and the public,” he said.
“We chose date palms for this project because they are an economic tree, and their seeds can be used to produce various products beyond being consumed raw as food,” he added.
During the 10th-anniversary celebration, the agency will also launch an expanded public campaign promoting environmentally friendly activities, including using energy for powering machinery and cooking, mining, construction, agriculture, among others,” NAGGW Director-General stated.
He commended Jigawa State for agreeing to host the anniversary celebration and for its continued support in helping the agency fulfill its mandate.
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