Chuks Oyema-Aziken
Vice-president, Senator Kashim Shettima on Thursday said the present administration is committed to the completion of the Great Green Wall.
Shettima stated this at the celebration of the maiden edition of the Great Green Wall Day” with theme “Push Back the Desert
in Abuja.
He said abandoning the project is a threat to collective existence for those in the affected areas.
In his speech at the occasion, Dr Yusuf Maina-Bukar Director General D-G of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) assured of more efforts to transform Nigeria’s dryland.
He identified need for adequate amount of water as a challenge to afforestation activities.
“The major objectives of “transforming Nigerian drylands” by the Agency are through: afforestation, reforestation, provision of alternative sources of cooking and energy use.
“As part of the commemoration of the Great Green Wall Day, we are going to demonstrate the use of a Dutch invention, known as the Groasis Waterboxx that assures a 90 per cent survival rate for plant seedlings.
“The Waterboxx functions as a plant incubator, sheltering both the newly planted seedling and the ground around it from the heat of the sun, while providing water for the plant.
“The lid collects water from rain and nighttime condensation, which is then stored in the bucket,” he said.
Maina-Bukar said that the initiative is being implemented across 22 African countries and has been uplifting thousands of communities across the continent.
“It has also brought together African countries and international partners under the leadership of the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall (PAGGW).
“NAGGW, under the Federal Ministry of Environment, was established by Act of Parliament in 2015, to pursue the laudable vision of the African Union and its Heads and State of Governments when they adopted and launched the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI) in 2007.
“As described by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Great Green Wall (GGW) is envisioned to be “the largest living structure on the planet, one that stretches 8,000km across Africa, ushering in a new era of sustainability and economic growth,” the D-G said.
He said that the agency was launched in 2007 by the African Union, as a game-changing African-led Great Green Wall initiative that aims to restore the continent’s degraded landscapes and transform millions of lives in the Sahel.
Alhaji Ibrahim Idris Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment said that the occasion demanded the agency to combat deforestation, drought, desertification, land degradation and the challenges of climate change.
The permanent secretary said that the impact of this climate change risks were experienced in the frontline states. like; Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe and Adamawa through the reduction of glaring poverty and ecosystem restoration among others.
He advised that the occasion is orchestrated by the need to carry along every stakeholder.
“The implementation of the initiative in Nigeria so far has witnessed some improvement in the livelihoods of the affected communities which are vulnerable to the impact of emerging climate change risks.
However, Idris said there is the need to foster increased mobilisation and sensitisation campaigns on ecological challenges such as drought, desertification, land degradation as well as climate change.
“To achieve this, aggressive afforestation and reforestation activities are desirable at national and sub-national levels,” Idris said.
In an earlier press release, “NAGGW said the goal of the GGW Day is to enlighten, sensitize and mobilize Nigerians to key into the objectives of the PAGGW initiative and educate Nigerians on the activities of the NAGGW to combat deforestation, drought, desertification, and other climate-related challenges with a focus on adapting land restoration strategies that will transform Nigeria’s drylands into a thriving economic hub.
“The Vice President, Senator Shettima shall lead other dignitaries in a tree-planting exercise in Abuja using a unique water retention technology called the Groassis Waterboxx. The Governors of the 11 frontline states are expected to also participate in similar tree planting activities on the same day in their respective states using the same Groassis Waterboxx technology.
“Some of the activities scheduled for the GGW Day, include school outreach visitations in the frontline states by key members of NAGGW staff and sensitization visits to traditional rulers and community leaders. A key highlight of the GGW Day activities will be a live twitter space discussion featuring the Director General, Dr Yusuf Maina-Bukar, OON which is scheduled to hold on Thursday 13th July 2023 at 5pm via the Agency’s official twitter handle @ggwnigeria.
“Nigeria will use its position as the current President, Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall, to promote the adoption of the July 13th GGW Day by the other ten (10) member countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.”
