To avoid widespread desertification in the country,
particularly in the North, the Federal Government has instructed officials of
the Nigeria Prisons Service, schools and other organisations involved in the
excessive cutting down of trees to refrain from the act.
It stated that the charge became necessary following the
reduced rainfall in most northern states, which had worsened the rate desert
encroachment in parts of the country.
The government, through its National Agency for Great Green
Wall, noted that states like Borno, Adamawa, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara
were witnessing desertification in diverse proportions, adding that the
situation could spread beyond the areas if not addressed.
The Director-General, NAGGW, Mr. Ahmed Goni, who announced
the government’s resolve to stop the prisons, schools and other organisations
from cutting down trees during an event at the headquarters of the NPS in
Abuja, said 80 per cent of the country’s population were involved in tree
felling.
Goni said, “The government, through the Federal Ministry of
Environment and our agency, has identified that one of the key factors causing
desertification is the excessive use of firewood in Nigeria. We have also
established that about 80 per cent of our population use firewood for their
cooking activities.
“Also, we’ve found out that the use of firewood is much in
places where we have a high number of people such as prisons, schools and large
bakeries. So, we have to reduce the excessive usage of firewood in our prisons
in order to ensure that our tree planting target as an agency of government is
not defeated.”
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