Ministry to Mobilize Youths for Planting 25m Trees Nationwide

Ministry to Mobilize Youths for Planting 25m Trees Nationwide

The Federal Ministry of Environment will soon mobilize Nigerian youths to plant 25 million across the country next year.

The Minister of Environment, Dr. Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, made this known in Abuja, while inaugurating the implementation committee on afforestation, which is saddled with the responsibility of planting the 25 million trees nationwide.

Abubakar, then assured that Nigeria will continue to provide the requisite leadership for efforts towards ecological restoration and recharge of the Lake Chad.

He explained that the tree-planting exercise is part of the country’s mitigation effort towards carbon sink.

“Mr. President’s commitment at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) provides an opportunity for the inclusion of youths in decision making processes as part of the overall climate governance architecture by harnessing and developing innovative ideas,” Dr. Abubakar added.

Members of the national tree-planting committee are drawn from Office of the Honourable Minister, Office of the Honourable Minister of State, Office of the Permanent Secretary, Department of Forestry, Department of Climate Change, and National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW).

Others include National Parks Service, Department of Drought and Desertification Amelioration, Representative of Governors Forum, Youth in Climate Change, civil cociety, private sector, Dangote Foundation, National Security Adviser’s Office, some federal ministries, together with the Disaster Management and Social Development.

Among other terms of reference, the committee is expected to come up with practicable and workable ways of implementing the policy, look at possibilities of accessing the 2019 Budget Appropriation as regards afforestation for the purpose of raising seedlings across the country, and to liaise with the National Forestry Trust Fund (NFTF) for possible collaboration, among others.

The afforestation committee will be chaired by Professor Sola Adepoju, the Director General of Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN).

The Minister of State, Dr. Sharon Ikeazor, and Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, attended the inauguration ceremony.

By PRNigeria