Nigeria approves program to fight desert encroachment
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E-mail Xinhua, May 17, 2012
The Nigerian government on Wednesday approved the take-off of the Great Green Wall (GGW) Environmental Program to check the ravaging desert encroachment in the northern part of the West African country.
Minister of Environment Hadiza Mailafia unveiled the program to reporters after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja.
She said the program would be implemented in the 11 frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa, Yobe and Zamfara.
Mailafia told reporters said that the eight most adversely affected states of Borno, Kano, Jigawa, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara would have a contiguous Green Belt, while the remaining three States of Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe would have support Green Belts.
The minister said the contiguous belt would run from Kebbi to Borno, a distance of 1,500 kilometers and 15 kilometers wide.
She said the program was based on cross-sectoral interventions that would ensure ecosystem restoration and enhanced food security for achieving sustainable development.
According to her, the funding of the program would be a shared responsibility of stakeholders which included the three tiers of government, development partners, private sector and civil society organizations on mutually agreed terms.
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