FG Pledges to Fight Land Degradation

FG Pledges to Fight Land Degradation

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The federal government yesterday said it would sustain the fight against the menace of desertification, land degradation, drought and climate change in the country.

The Minister of Environment, Alhaji Mahmoud Abubakar made the disclosure at a training programme for 90 women and youths in Kano and Jigawa States

During the programme, the minister said environmental hazard “is real and if left unchecked can render all land in the country useless. It also has a tendency of wiping out habitats, escalating conflicts, sparking migration and threatening the very fabric of our livelihood.

“Since the process of land degradation is driven largely by human misuse of land, plants and water and people through changes in behaviour and actions can also revert it.”

He said the ministry had conceived the plan to construct five skill acquisition centres located in Kano, Bauchi, Katsina Sokoto, and Yobe states being the frontline states of the National Agency for Great Green Wall operational areas.

According to him, the training is a means of transforming unskilled hands into skilful, productive and efficient hands that have the mastery of certain vocations.

He said the training in skill acquisition “is central and critical to realising the objective of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) in our dry land communities.”

The minister used the opportunity to state that the entrepreneurship training will give succour to the rural people and ameliorate the high rate of unemployment in Nigeria.

The flag-off includes training on tailoring, knitting, perfume and soap making.

Also at the programme, Kano State Governor, Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje said all along the state government had always synergised with the federal ministry of environment to fight land degradation and soil erosion.

Ganduje said that the state had since acquired two million trees to be planted at various locations in order to fight environmental hazards.

He said the state government has been sustaining the monthly environmental sanitation with a view to keep the environment clean at all cost.

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