The National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) programme, says it has begun training of personnel to combat desertification and land degradation in the 11 frontline states across the country.
Dr Bukar Hassan, Director-General of the Agency, stated this at the inauguration of a three-day workshop for field officers on Monday in Kano.
Represented by Mr Nasir Sama’ila, Director Administration and General Services of the Agency, Hassan said the training would boost the capacity of the personnel and enhance its operations.
He said, “In line with civil service rules, there is always need to train and retrain staff for effective and quality service delivery.”
Hassan said the field officers were the backbone of the Agency inview of their closer links to the communities, adding that training would equip them with relevant skills to operate in the rural communities and create more engagement.
In her remarks, Mrs Habiba Ibrahim, Field Coordinator of the Agency, said that the training would promote synergy among stakeholders in the campaign to save the environment.
Ibrahim said the Agency adopted proactive measures to sustain the training programme towards building the capacity of its personnel for effective service delivery.
Also speaking, Mr Saminu Ado, an environmentalist, said the field officers needed to be vast with the goals and objectives of the project.
Ado said the project was an integrated development strategy to reverse land degradation and desertification.
He said the project was also designed to encourage food security and provide enabling environment for communities to adapt to ecosystem and climate change.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Green Great Wall project is aimed to address land degradation, desertification, boost food security and support communities to adapt to climate change in the Sahel-Sahara region of Africa.
NAGGW is saddled with the responsibility of discouraging desertification and land degradation in Sokoto, Kebbi, Kastina, Zamfara, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa States.
(NAN)