Plateau urged to plant 20m trees to address soil erosion

The government and citizens of Plateau State have been urged to embark on massive tree planting to curb soil erosion and other environmental disasters. 

The Managing Director of Hydro-Electric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Alhaji Sadiq Yelwa, who gave the charge while launching a tree planting campaign to mark the 2024 World Environment Day in Barkin Ladi said, “Only massive tree planting campaign is what is needed to avoid impending environmental disaster.

“That is why I am recommending the planting of at least 20 million trees in all 17 local governments of the state, because the environment of the state is already vulnerable to disaster.”

Yelwa, who announced a donation of 1 million tree seedlings, said the entire population of Plateau should see tree planting as a collective responsibility to the environment as well as present and future generations.

• Nigerian student shines at Cambridge competition
• Redeeming Nigeria’s image as a drug trafficking nation

In his remarks, the Plateau State governor, represented by the Commissioner for Environment, Peter Gwong said, “Already, the state government had made it a policy to plant 10 million trees in the first term of the administration, adding that, “the state governor has a reason to have declared a state of emergency on the environment.”