Why Presidential assent is needed for the Great Green Wall Agency Bill

The bill which among other things seeks to establish the National Agency for the Great Green Wall for the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Great Green Wall programme in Nigeria, management of drought, desertification and afforestation control measures and related matters is overdue as other countries implementing the convention already have in place agencies.
The activities of the NAGGW is expected to be implemented in 11 frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno; it will pass through 43 local government areas which will be covered to rehabilitate 225,000 hectares of land.
The prayer of stakeholders is that the National Assembly and the Presidency should give the bill accelerated attention so that President Goodluck Jonathan would sign it into law before leaving in the next three days.
Already, the bill had passed second reading at the Senate and conclusion from watching the live debate on the bill was that the agency was vital and needed to champion government effort at addressing the decades of havoc caused by desertification.
According to some of the lawmakers, the establishment of the agency would bring to rest the incessant clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers that have resulted in the loss of many lives and properties worth billions across the country.
Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, said the bill if passed into law will help safeguard the environment, ensure food security, reduce unemployment and poverty, protect citizens in the affected parts from the vagaries of weather, reduce strife and criminality, ensure sustainable livelihood and avert a major catastrophe in the near future. He said desertification affects an area of about 393, 168 square kilometre which is about 43 per cent of the total land area of Nigeria and called on all the senators to support the bill and pass it into law.
Senate President David Mark said anything that affects 43 per cent of the total land area of Nigeria is a serious problem and wondered why the country which initiated the Great Green Wall programme has not established the agency till now.
At the lower chambers, Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, Uche Ekwunife had explained during the consideration of her committee’s report that a smooth ground has been laid for the take-off of the agency.
She said the agency would take off with 15 percent of the special Ecological Funds, which the chairperson said is “sufficient enough” for the new agency.
Rep Nasir Ali Ahmed however said the funds for the take off was grossly inadequate in view of the gravity of the problem, and called for the increase by 10 percent.
On his part, Rep Kyari Gujbawu said 43 percent of Nigeria’s land mass is presently facing the scourge of desertification, which calls for adequate funding as well as lawmakers’ co-operation in passing the bill.
The 30-clause report was unanimously passed by the House after the clause-by-clause consideration, presided over by the deputy speaker Emeka Ihedioha.
This development set the stage for the harmonisation and possible forwarding to Mr President a bill for his ascent seeking to establish the Great Green Wall Agency that would assist Northern Nigeria which is under threat from desert encroachment to recover lost ground and make the environment safe and habitable for the citizens.
According to Greg Odogwu, a writer and environmental advocate: “Environmentalists all over the world have been aghast at the negligence of the nation’s northern edge where the desert is practically chasing out citizens from their homes. So, it was a near-national embarrassment watching smaller countries like Mauritania and Senegal take up the gauntlet to fight desert encroachment via the Green Wall Sahara concept while we still dilly dallied, treating the clear and present danger with kid gloves and hollow oratory.”
The National Sssembly has done its part by passing the bill, all eyes are now on Mr President who has three days to make history just by appending his signature to the bill as passed by both chambers of the assembly.