Bauchi State House of Assembly has passed into law the Bauchi State Tree Planting and Conservation Bill 2020 that directs the state government to embark on massive tree planting to serve as shelter belt within the 20 local governments areas.
Speaker of the House, Hon Abubakar Y Suleiman, disclosed this on Wednesday at plenary shortly after the acting chairman, House Committee on Forestry and Environment, Hon. Mukhtar A Suleiman (Katagum Constituency), laid the report of the committee on the bill.
The Bauchi State Tree Planting Bill 2020, which was sponsored by Hon. Musa Wakili Nakwada (Bogoro Constituency), seeks to ensure that forests and trees are conserved as well as managed in a manner that meets the needs of the present generation.
The committee recommended that government should make it mandatory for all construction firms to, as a matter of policy, include tree planting along newly constructed roads, houses and schools within the state as well as put a stop to felling of trees for charcoal and timber in the forests in the state.
The bill also provided that government should liaise with NDOs, civil society organisations, donor agencies, NYSC, road transport unions, religious and community leaders in providing tree seedlings to all the nooks and crannies of the state.
