The Senate on Wednesday passed a bill which seeks to create an agency which would be responsible for the management and control of drought, desertification and deforestation in Nigeria.
It is tagged “The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (Establishment) Bill 2015.”
The Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, who sponsored the bill, explained that its passage was crucial in view of the fact that about 43 per cent of Nigeria’s total land area was under the threat of desertification.
He said the development, if not immediately tackled, would have devastating effects on food security, sustainable livelihood and social security of over 40 million people in the affected communities.
He explained that Nigeria signed the Great Green Wall Convention in 2010 with the specific goal of addressing land degradation and desertification in the Sahara and Sahel region involving 11 African countries.
He said, “The thrust of the bill is to provide a green wall of trees or shelter belts from Kebbi State to Borno State, a distance of 1,500km and 15km width to wedge the southward expansion of the Sahara desert and improve land productivity.
“It will enhance food production, reduce rural poverty, minimise social conflict between pastoralists and farmers with attendant loss of lives and properties, which has become quite pervasive in parts of Benue, Nasarawa and Plateau states.”
He also raised the alarm that desertification had been evident in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Yobe states, describing it as a grave natural challenge facing the country.
Ndoma-Egba added that “Nigeria loses an estimated 2,168sqkm of rangeland and cropland every year, thereby causing migration towards the south,” an action, he argued was aggravating rural poverty and social conflicts.
He said, “These frontline states support about 90 per cent of the cattle population, about two-thirds of the goats and sheep and almost all the donkeys, camels and horses found in the country.
“If rampaging desertification is not checked, and controlled, the socio-economic consequences on the country will be disastrous and can only be better imagined.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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