Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval to the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) to commence the planting of 26 million trees, in fulfillment of the President’s commitment at the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The Presidency announced this Sunday, via its verified twitter handle @NGRPresident.
The Great Green Wall Programme is a Pan-African Initiative conceived to address land degradation and desertification, and boost food security.
This tree-planting campaign will be implemented in eight States across Northern Nigeria: Borno, Jigawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, Kebbi, Kano, Zamfara.
The Agency had in April unfolded plans of how it intendsy to realise the 26 million trees President Buhari pledged Nigeria will plant as part of commitments to reduce climate change impact in the country.
It had said a million trees a year would be planted and nurtured for the next four years.
The Great Green Wall is an African-led movement with an epic ambition to grow an 8,000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa.
Africa’s dream of a Great Green Wall dates back to the 1970s, when vast swathes of fertile land in a region called the Sahel, which spans the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, started to become severely degraded.