By George George Idowu
As the world continues to seek solutions for mitigating the impact of climate change, Nigerians have urged the federal government to declare a national day of tree planting to tackle climate-induced challenges in the country.
This was revealed in a social media opinion poll conducted by NatureNews, Africa’s foremost online newspaper on environment and biodiversity, based on the question, “Should the Federal Government of Nigeria declare a national day of tree planting to tackle climate change”?
The polls, which lasted for 24 hours, gave three voting options, namely, Yes, No, and Indifferent, with the “yes” accumulating 82% of the votes while “No” and “Indifferent” had 11% and 7% votes respectively.
NatureNews notes that deforestation, desert encroachment, and illegal tree felling are some of the major challenges confronting Nigeria with attendant impact on biodiversity and sustainability of the environment
It will be recalled that early this year, NatureNews, one of the top 10 nature publications in the world, announced its initiative to lead a national 10-year massive tree planting campaign which harmonise the efforts of public and private sector stakeholders in Nigeria.
Commenting on the result of the poll on Tuesday, NatureNews publisher and editor-in-chief, Aliu Akoshile, said Nigerians appreciate the social, economic, and environmental benefits of tree planting.
He reiterated the commitment of NatureNews to environmental awareness across Africa and the newspaper’s readiness to drive the tree planting campaign in Nigeria.
“NatureNews has developed a robust blueprint for national tree planting campaign and it is keen to drive the advocacy for planting 10 billion trees in Nigeria by 2035,” he said, adding that the newspaper is only awaiting the official endorsement of the federal government.
Already, several states and private sectors are beginning to embrace the tree planting initiative, but analysts warned that the initiatives have to be harmonised under a national campaign being proposed by NatureNews.
Recently, the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, unveiled the state’s 2024 tree-planting exercise, hoping to distribute 10 million assorted seedlings aimed at controlling desertification in the state.
According to reports, this is the largest tree-planting initiative by any state government in Nigeria.
Also, the Kano State Government has launched an initiative to plant three million trees to check heat waves being experienced in the state.
In Gombe State, Governor Inuwa Yahaya has also flagged off 1.7 million tree planting campaigns, while the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, has announced the plans to plant 1 million trees in the state.
States in the southern part of the country are not left out, as Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State recently announced plans to plant thousands of trees annually in order to restore the ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and improve air and water quality across the state.
In Anambra state, Governor Charles Soludo, recently disclosed that his administration has planted over 3,000 palm trees in Nibo, Awka South Local Government Area, as a means of controlling the menace of erosion in the area.
Nigeria’s organised private sector players have also been involved in the tree planting initiative based on disclosures made in the last six months.
Companies including Dangote Group, BUA group, and Sterling Foundation have announced their commitments to tree planting while NNPC Foundation during the world environment day made a pledge to support tree planting campaign across the schools in Nigeria.
Below is a list of public and private sector stakeholders engaging in tree planting exercise;
TREE PLANTING COMMITMENTS: PUBLIC SECTOR
1. Lagos State
2. Niger State
3. Ogun state
4. Osun state
5. Oyo State
6. Kwara State
7. Edo state
8. Bayelsa state
9. Akwa Ibom state
10. Abia State
11. Imo state
12. Anambra State
13. Ebonyi state
14. Kaduna State
15. Kano State
16. Jigawa State
17. Borno State
18. Taraba State
19. Adamawa State
20. Zamfara state
21. NAGGW
22. NASTREP
23. NNPC
24. NCF
TREE PLANTING COMMITMENTS: PRIVATE SECTOR
1) Keystone Bank
2) Standard Chartered Bank
3) Stanbic IBTC
4) First Bank
5) Viathan Group
6) Zulum Go Green Initiative and Iliya Yamen Kwache Foundation
7) LOTUS Bank
8) Sterling Bank
9) UBA
10) Access Bank
11) Union Bank
12) Ecobank
13) Rotary Club
14) League of Queens International
15) International Visitors’ Leadership Programme (IVLP), Enugu
16) Jama’at Izalatil Bid’ah Wa’iqamatis Sunnah (JIBWIS)
17) Jama’atu Nasrul Islam (JNI)
18) Catholic Diocese of Yola
19) The Adamawa State Vice Chairman of Spinal Cord Injury Association, Yola