Abuja-The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW), has appealed to state governments of 11 frontline states to make budgetary allocations to curb land degradation and desertification.
The Director-General of the agency, Mr Goni Ahmed, made the appeal while delivering a paper at the ongoing 10th National Council on Environment at Lafia, Nasarawa State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 11 Great Green Wall (GGW) frontline states are Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
The appeal is contained in a statement signed by Mrs Larai Daze,
Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the agency and made available to NAN in Abuja on Wednesday.
Ahmed urged the affected state governments to also provide land and community mobilisation to enable the agency achieve its objectives.
According to the director-general, drylands in Nigeria constitutes about 43 per cent of its total land area covering 11 states.
“These states are directly threatened by land degradation causing serious food insecurity, abject poverty, forced migration and conflicts resulting to insurgency in some areas.
“The people in these states are dependent on natural and land resources for their livelihoods with over 80 per cent of the nation’s vegetables and livestock produced in the area, “ Ahmed said.
He explained that the livelihood of citizens of the area deserved to be given priority by all tiers of government.
The director-general said the agency, since inception, had embarked on activities such as establishment of shelterbelt, windbreak, woodlot plantations, skills acquisition and employment generation.
Others are promotion of agro-forestry and renewable energy; farmers managed natural regeneration, promotion of human livelihood activities, provision of water and rural infrastructure, among others.
The National Council on Environment meeting is an annual event which normally attracts different stakeholders in the environment sector across the country. (