Environmentalists opine that the revised national report of the United Nations, which estimates that the country is currently losing about 351,000 hectares of its landmass to desert conditions annually, is worrisome.
According to the report, desert conditions are also estimated to be advancing southwards of the country at the rate of about 0.6 kilometre per year.
A former Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Mallam, had previously expressed worry about a report in 2014 which indicated that 43.3 per cent of the total land area in the country was prone to desertification.
She said the frontline states were facing greatest hazards with attendant destruction of farmlands and livelihood in affected communities.
The most affected states Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe.
Similarly, the Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, recently expressed concern about what she described as “unprecedented rate of deforestation and forest degradation.’’
The minister said this arose from intensive logging of timber for export and fuel wood extraction for domestic energy use purposes.
She explained that apart from wood extraction, there were other non-environmental human activities, including indiscriminate bush burning, mass land clearing for agriculture and urban expansion among others.
“Many states now see the forest as the main source of revenue generation and yet, little or nothing is being ploughed back for the forestry development,’’ she said.
The minister noted that the activities of timber merchants, including foreigners, who engaged in some illegal deals, were not also helping matters.
“The forestry sector is also challenged by outdated policies and regulations, inadequate manpower and low capacity for enforcement at the various levels of governments,’’ she said.
In the light of this challenge, governments at the federal and state levels in the country have taken a number of measures to protect the forest and its biodiversity.
For instance, the Kogi Government recently banned illegal felling of economic trees and trading in sand in the state.
The government insisted that the increasing rate of deforestation and degradation of forest and soil reserve in the state could no longer be tolerated as government places high priority on the issue of environment.
Similarly, the Ogun Government has cautioned against illegal felling of trees to checkmate the excesses and illegal activities of some loggers.
Observers, therefore, urge other states to follow suit in banning illegal felling of tress to protect the forest and environment.
In addition to this, both the federal and states governments have set up a number of national parks and forest reserves across the country.
The parks and reserves are protected areas meant to conserve the environment, plants and animals.
Some of the national parks are in the Chad Basin in Borno and Yobe, Hadejia-Nguru wetlands, Sambisa Game Reserve, Kainji Lake, Borgu Game Reserve and Zugurma Game Reserve.
Others are Kamuku in Kaduna State, Okomu in Edo and part of the Okomu Forest Reserve, Old Oyo in Oyo State and Yankari Game Reserve in Bauchi State, among others.
Apart from these measures, Nigeria has keyed into the Great Green Wall (GGW) programme initiated by the African Union to create a greenbelt at the southern edge of the Sahara desert.
The implementation of the programme began in the 11 frontline states in 2014 with the objective of improving resilience of human and natural systems in areas faced with climate change.
The programme has so far produced five million assorted forest and fruit tree seedlings, established 415km shelterbelt, 135 hectares of community woodlots, 235 community orchards and 138 hectares vegetable gardens in the affected states.
It has provided 157 solar and wind powered boreholes to ameliorate the impact of drought in the areas while it also engages and trains 400 youths as forest guards.
To ensure the effectiveness of GGW programme, the Federal Government has announced plan to move its operational office to Kano State.
The Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, announced the movement recently at an event to mark the 2016 World Desertification Day at Jansa village in Babura Local Government of Jigawa.
Mohammed said the measure was aimed at repositioning and strengthening the programme to achieve its objectives.
She also said that the movement was to facilitate easy contact with its operational environment and maximise its impact on the eleven affected states.
These initiatives notwithstanding, concerned Nigerians insist that consistent influx of migrants from neighbouring countries has resulted in over grazing and continuous exploitation of marginal lands.
According to them, this development has in turn aggravated the twin problems of drought and desertification and it should be checked.
They noted that some villages and major access roads in Borno, Jigawa, Katsina State, Sokoto State and Yobe have been taken over sand dunes.
In the light of this, Mr Feyisetan Okunola, an environmentalist in Osogbo, Osun, suggested that the GGW project should be a major focus of all stakeholders.
He urged the Minister of Environment to convince the Federal government to adequately meet up with its counterpart funding of the project.
“Another option is for the ministry to utilise the area of supplementary budget to fund major projects that have direct bearing with the lives of Nigerians as far the environment is concerned.
“It is worrisome to see plants cultivated to arrest desertification left to wither; these plants eventually dry up for lack of proper maintenance and result in desertification,’’ he noted.
He also advised the ministry to embark on adequate sensitisation programme for host communities who should also be involved in tree planting by providing enough tree seedlings to support the government’s drive to ameliorate their plight.
“Now that the rainy season has come, the ministry should make deliberate effort to identify with communities ravaged by desert encroachment by planting trees to keep the GGW project alive.
“If the ministry can plant least 1, 000 kilometre trees out of the estimated 1,500 kilometre trees to be covered by the project, it will be a major achievement in fighting desertification,’’ he observed.
However, a non-governmental organization — Fighting Against Desert Encroachment (FADE) — has been working to bring public attention to the problem of desertification in Nigeria.
Dr Newton Jibunoh, a retired soil engineer who started this group in 2000, observes that desert encroachment could cause widespread hunger.
To prevent this, he said he had led a delegation to some African countries, including Nigeria, to discuss the dangers of losing farmlands.
Analysts, therefore, call on Nigerians to support the implementation of the GGW, observing that it has the potential of reducing poverty and stopping desertification. (NANFeatures)