By Nneka Nwogwugwu
President Muhammadu Buhari has proposed a solution to control desertification in Nigeria.
He directed collaboration between Ministries of the Environment, Water Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development, Power, and all other relevant stakeholders in combating desertification in Nigeria.
The President spoke Thursday in Nairobi, Kenya, during a sideline meeting with Mr Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
He said the collaboration should also include the 11 States prone to drought and desert encroachment, under the aegis of Northern Governors Forum.
Buhari further directed full cooperation between Nigeria and UNCCD in the prelude to the forthcoming meeting to combat desertification billed for Cote D’Ivoire in May, 2022.
Mr Thiaw said 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 its arable land in the past 50 years, leading to a challenge of feeding the people. “Land degradation is about food, peace and security. And land restoration provides multiple solutions. It brings carbon back to the soil when you cultivate the land,” the Executive Secretary said.
He said that no one qualifies more to speak on large scale restoration of land, than the Nigerian leader, who is also President of the Great Green Wall, submittingthat Nigeria has the greatest stretch of the Wall, which is over 1,000 kilometers.
Source: Verity news