By Rasheeda Hamidu
The Federal Government launched the 2026 national tree planting campaign and inaugurated the National Steering Committee for the Sustainable Agricultural Restoration and Growth for Green Wall Areas (SURAGGWA) in Kano to restore degraded landscapes and combat desertification.
The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, inaugurated the campaign on Thursday during the commemoration of the 2026 Great Green Wall Day at the headquarters of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) in Kano.
Lawal said the initiative demonstrates Nigeria’s commitment to restoring degraded ecosystems, tackling desertification and building climate-resilient communities under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
According to the minister, this year’s theme, “The Green Shield: Restoring Landscapes to Silence the Sand and Dust Storms,” reflects the urgent need to address worsening sand and dust storms across Northern Nigeria and the Sahel.
“The solution lies in restoring our degraded landscapes. The Great Green Wall Initiative was conceived as Africa’s flagship response to desertification and climate change,” Lawal said.
He disclosed that NAGGW has produced more than 48 million indigenous and exotic tree seedlings, distributed over 10.8 million drought-resistant seedlings and 869,089 date palm seedlings, while expanding access to clean energy through solar technologies and fuel-efficient cookstoves.
The Director-General of NAGGW, Saleh Abubakar, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to restoring degraded lands, promoting agroforestry and strengthening climate resilience through the Great Green Wall Initiative.
Also speaking, the Kano State Commissioner for Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Dahiru Hashim, said relocating the agency’s headquarters to Kano would strengthen efforts to combat desertification, noting that the state has restored more than 50,000 hectares of degraded land through environmental programmes.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Hussein Gadain, said the SURAGGWA project, funded by the Green Climate Fund, will promote landscape restoration, biodiversity conservation, climate adaptation and sustainable livelihoods through coordinated implementation.
NatureNews reports that sustained investment in landscape restoration, afforestation and climate-smart agriculture remains critical to reversing land degradation and strengthening environmental resilience across Nigeria’s dryland states.