President Muhammadu Buhari has directed Ministries of Environment, Water Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development, Power, and all other relevant stakeholders to collaborate in combating desertification in Nigeria.
The President gave the directive in Nairobi, Kenya, during a sideline meeting with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD, Mr Ibrahim Thiaw.
President Buhari said that collaboration should also include the 11 states prone to drought and desert encroachment, under the aegis of Northern Governors’ Forum.
He equally directed full co-operation between Nigeria and UNCCD in the prelude to the forthcoming meeting to combat desertification billed for Cote D’Ivoire in May, 2022.
Mr Thiaw had said that apart from the meeting in Cote D’Ivoire, Climate Change conference would hold in Egypt later in the year, noting that the Conference of the Parties, COP, would be coming back to Africa after 11 years.
On desertification, he said Africa lost about 60% of her arable land in the past 50 years, leading to a challenge of feeding the people.
Mr. Thiaw noted that no one would be more qualified to speak on large scale restoration of land, than the Nigerian leader, who is also President of the Great Green Wall, submitting that Nigeria has the greatest stretch of the Wall, which is over 1,000 kilometers.
He said President Buhari’s leadership was important to drive the process of tackling the various germane issues on desertification, drought, and land restoration.
Bello Wakili
