FG to fight desertification with N100bn

FG to fight desertification with N100bn

Minister for Environment, Laurentia Laraba

The Federal Government will spend about N100bn in its fight against desertification in 11 frontline states in the North, President Goodluck Jonathan has said.

The states are Sokoto, Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Katsina, Adamawa and Zamfara.

Jonathan, who inaugurated the Great Green Wall project in Kebbi State on Tuesday, said the government had disbursed N16bn to implement the scheme.

The GGW project, he said, would entail the planting of economical trees to cover a length of about 1,500km and a width of about 15km in the selected states.

Jonathan noted that the entire project would gulp between N85bn and N100bn, stressing that the Federal Government had disbursed N16bn for the implementation of the programme.

The GGW project was initially estimated to gulp N10bn but the figure was recently scaled up to N16bn by the Federal Government.

The Minister of Environment, Mrs. Laurentia Mallam, said the project would address the issue of desertification and positively enhance the livelihood of residents in the affected states, as desert encroachment was becoming a menace in such areas.

According to Mallam, the project will provide shelter covers for the affected communities and create an ozone friendly environment in the region.

She noted that 5,000 additional jobs were targeted by the GGW project in each of the affected states, and this would include jobs for tree planters, forest guards and citizens who sell vegetables.

She said, “Mr. President has provided funds for the 2015 framework. So all together, he has provided N16bn for this project. The money is already intact for the programme.

“The Great Green Wall will also check soil erosion in the affected communities. Since trees take carbon-dioxide from the air, planting large scale trees will help absorb excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thereby contributing its quota in checking ozone depletion and global warming.”

Early this year, the Federal Government had announced plans to contact the World Bank, African Development Bank and Jaiz Bank for financial assistance to efficiently execute the programme, which started in 2013.

It said the programme would tackle not just desert encroachment but provide borehole facilities in about 200 communities and create employment for its beneficiaries.

According to the government, in a statement by the Federal Ministry of Environment, 15 million people will benefit from the programme, adding that the GGW project is an initiative of the African Union.

“It is also aimed to promote alternative source of livelihood in 11 countries, including Nigeria and nations around the Sahel region of the African continent,” it said.

Other countries involved in the programme are Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eriteria, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sudan and Chad.

SOURCE: The Punch News