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

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

The federal government yesterday called for 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.

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

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, Thiaw said that apart from the meeting in Cote D’Ivoire, Climate Change conference would be held 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 per cent of its arable land in the past 50 years.

He said: “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 qualified 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 kilometers.

Thiaw described drought as 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.