FG tasked on desertification in Zamfara

He made the call at the opening of a workshop on Environmental Regulations in the Great Green Wall Region organised by the Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency [NESREA] in Gusau.
Yari who was represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Mukthar Lugga, said there is need for the establishment of NESREA office in Zamfara State for the state to benefit from the N16 billion set aside by the federal government to fight environmental hazards in the country.
He described the problem of desertification in Zamfara and other frontline states as a burning issue which needed proactive measures to curb and save vast land mass being currently threatened by desertification.
“We in Zamfara State are doing all we can to ensure that desertification is curbed and therefore we are ready to provide all what is required for the establishment of NESREA in the state, to support us in our fight against desert encroachment. We will provide the agency office and other logistics to make it functional in our state,” he said.
Earlier, NESREA Deputy Director, Strategic Alliance and Partnership, Mr Dutse Salka, said the Great Green Wall [GGW] concept is a programme aimed at combating desertification in 46 local government areas in 11 frontline states namely Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
“It has been estimated that between 50 – 70 percent of the people of these states are adversely affected by drought and desertification. Considering the vast land being threatened by desertification, about 397,222 square kilometers of Nigeria’s total land mass and the economic, agricultural and industrial potentials of these frontline states, there is an overt call to combat this environmental menace,” he said.
The NESREA deputy director said the agency is collaborating with GGW especially in the area of public education among the local community and also enforcing the provisions of environmental laws and regulations.