FG Directs 4 Ministries, 11 Northern States to Combat Drought, Desert Encroachment

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government Thursday directed a joint collaboration between the four federal ministries namely Environment, Water Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development, Power, and 11 drought prone northern states as well as other relevant stakeholders to combat the menace of desertification in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari gave the directive in Nairobi, Kenya, during a sideline meeting with the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Mr Ubrahim Thiaw.

President Buhari, who is attending the Special Session of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP@50), said the collaboration will involve the four federal ministries and agencies and the 11 states prone to drought and desert encroachment, under the aegis of Northern Governors Forum.

He also canvassed for full cooperation between Nigeria and UNCCD in the prelude to the forthcoming meeting to combat desertification billed for Cote D’Ivoire in May 2022.

On his part, 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, the UNCCD boss said Africa lost about 60% of its arable land in the past 50 years, leading to a challenge of feeding the people.

His words: “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.”

He noted 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, submitting that Nigeria has the greatest stretch of the Wall, which is over 1,000 kilometres.

On drought, Thiaw said it was a phenomenon that had always existed, but is now much more severe and a global issue.

He stressed that President Buhari’s leadership is important to drive the process of tackling the various germane issues on desertification, drought and land restoration.