From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari at the  weekend, emerged the president of the Great Green Wall in Africa for the next two years.

Minister of State for  Environment, Chief Sharon Ikeazor  disclosed this at the end during  the 4th Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government (CHSG) of the Pan African Agency for the Great Green Wall in Abuja at the weekend.

“At the end of the 4th Ordinary Session of the CHSG, Nigeria took over the presidency of the PAGGW. So,  for the next two years, Nigeria and President Muhammadu Buhari will be the President of the Great Green Wall Initiative in Africa.

“This means that within the period, Nigeria will work assiduously towards addressing the problems of land degradation, food security, desertification, climate change, depletion of the forest ecosystems and biodiversity in Africa, among others” the minister, said.

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Ikeazor expressed optimism that with the unparalleled commitment of the president on addressing issues of climate change and desertification, coupled with the immense respect he commands within the international community, a lot would be achieved during his tenure.

She recalled the commitment of  Buhari when last month in Glasgow, Scotland at the Climate Change Summit (COP 26) Side Event on the Great Green Wall (GGW), where he expressed optimism about Africa’s ambition to restore over 100 million hectares of the degraded landscape for productive agriculture.

It is instructive to note that in his acceptance speech of the PAGGW leadership,  Buhari stated: “All things being equal, we shall strengthen our efforts in mobilisation of resources for the accelerated accomplishment of the Decennial Priority Investment Plan (DPIP) 2021-2030 and its concrete implementation action”.

He stressed that the realisation of financial pledges that emerged as outcome of the “One Planet Summit” held on January, 11 2021 in Paris, France would be given utmost priority.

He expressed the optimism that the restoration of Africa degraded ecosystems and ensuring  the resilience of our people against Climate Change effects shall be strengthened.