Tinubu, Shettima Mark GGW Day as Bukar Unveils Deforestation Innovation

Tinubu, Shettima Mark GGW Day as Bukar Unveils Deforestation Innovation

Vice President Kashim Shettima and the First Lady, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu, on Thursday, joined teeming Nigerians to commemorate the inaugural Great Green Wall (GGW) Day celebration.

At the Presidential Villa, Shettima and Tinubu performed a symbolic planting of trees.

This is just as the Director General of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall, NAGGW, Dr. Yusuf Maina Bukar, unveiled a cutting-edge technology to be deployed in tackling Nigeria’s deforestation crisis.

The Vice President, in his keynote address said: “The world as we know it has been changing. Our temperatures are becoming extreme. Our rivers are drying up. Our wildlife has become endangered and our forests are thinning out.

“We are not only at the mercy of a world with inadequate green landscapes, but we are also forced to migrate towards greener pastures. The frightening reality is why we are gathered here today; this is what has inspired the GGW project.

“We are the silver lining in this search for a green and benign world; one that guarantees food security and prevents climate-induced migration.’’

Shettima recalled that Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Environment, took up the challenge to partake in the Pan-African mission to save the world.

He said: “I appeal to all of us to see this initiative as an emergency rescue operation. We inherited a dream that we cannot afford to relegate because doing so is not even an option.

“Our predecessors were aware of the danger ahead; and the burden is upon us now to pursue this mission as a life-saving mission and we must carry all stakeholders along to achieve this”.

In his remark, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Alh. Ibrahim Idris, said that the commemorative tree planting to mark the first edition of GGW Day shall as well be carried out simultaneously in all the eleven (11) frontline States.

“The various State Governors, Royal Highnesses, and some selected schools have been mobilized to actively participate in this laudable exercise,” he said.

Earlier, In his opening remark, Dr. Maina Bukar, who is also the convener of the initiative, said that their NAGGW has since 2015 mitigated the impact of emerging climate change risks in the frontline states of Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Bauchi, Gombe and Adamawa, “by sequestering Carbon dioxide (CO2) in our shelterbelt plantation, woodlot plantation, orchard plantation, Gum Arabic (acacia) plantation, indigenous tree plantation, social forestry, farm forestry, institutional planting, and by large scale restoration of forest lands.

“It has also intervened directly by providing and empowering the women and the vulnerable living within and near its GGW corridor. As part of the commemoration of the Great Green Wall Day, we are going to demonstrate the use of a Dutch invention, known as the Groasis Waterboxx that assures a 90% survival rate for plant seedlings.

“The Waterboxx functions as a plant incubator, sheltering both the newly-planted seedling and the ground around it from the heat of the sun, while providing water for the plant.”

By PRNigeria.