DG highlights Great
DG highlights Great Green Wall’s achievements, seeks
media support
In a bid to showcase the remarkable achievements so far recorded
by National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW), Dr. Bukar
Hassan, has solicited the support and mutual collaboration of the
media.
He made the plea while hosting members of the Environmental
Media Correspondents of Nigeria (EMCAN), who paid him a
familiarization visit at his office, in Abuja.
He equally promised to partner and work with the association and
other members of the press to fully actualize his visions for the
Agency.
Dr. Hassan, who is GGW’s Director General, explained that the
media is a dependable partner in progress, hence they must be
carried along by any organisation who desire to achieve successes
in their activities.
He noted that the press was instrumental to the ‘sterling’
achievements GGW recorded in the areas of combating desertification
and degradation, among others, saying “the media has greatly
assisted not only in publicizing their good works, but also, some
members of the press have offered him their portent suggestions and
powerful ideas.”
Dr. Hassan, while speaking further, stated that the vision of
NAGGW for the drylands of Nigeria includes creating an enabling
environment or condition, which will promote the sustainable
management of the drylands ecosystems and provide the affected
people with foundation for their wellbeing and livelihoods.
The vision, he however, said can only be actualized with the
strong support of all the stakeholders and their active
participation in all processes of the programme implementation.
On the rationale behind the establishment of the Agency, Bukar
Hassan, said GGW was designed to reverse and prevent
desertification/land degradation in the affected areas in order to
support poverty reduction and environmental sustainability through
partnership and collaboration with local, national and
international stakeholders.
“Some of the groundbreaking achievements recorded by the
National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) attained in 2017
using the Green Bond proceeds and other funding mechanisms include
the production of 1,578,517 assorted tree seedlings for
afforestation activities, establishments of 128.8km shelterbelt,
105.2ha community woodlot, 58.5ha community orchard, E-Library, GIS
Laboratory, installation of automatic weather stations at APCU Kano
and NEAZAP, Gashua; construction of nine solar-powered boreholes
for water supply, land rehabilitation through the FAO supported AAD
programme, and a pilot community-based fish farming project in Yobe
State.
“Equally, the Agency’s afforestation activities were carried out
jointly with the affected frontline States and the local
communities. In 2018, about 904,574 tree seedlings were produced
for the establishment of shelterbelt, woodlot and orchard.
Similarly, about 65km shelterbelt using mainly neems was
established in 2018 towards increasing the vegetation cover of the
affected areas and protecting over 1,300ha of farmland,” he
said.
Mr. Chuks Onyema, EMCAN Chairman, while stating the purpose of
their courtesy call, said they decided to visit GGW so as to
applaud the DG and his team for the ‘amazing work’ they are doing
to check desertification and land degradation, among other
ecological challenges.
While assuring their host that EMCAN is not a body that takes
delight in blackmailing or writing negatively about Agencies under
the Federal Ministry of Environment (FMENV), Mr. Onyema, called for
a mutual partnership between the two organisations.
“We are here to appreciate the good works you are doing. But
more importantly, we are here to seek ways on how to partner your
great Agency. We appealed to GGW, under your dynamic leadership,
not to sideline the media in all their programmes and activities.
We should be carried along in everything you do, and mostly
especially, GGW should also prioritize the welfare of our members,”
he said.
Highpoint of the visit was the presentation of GGW’s 2017 and
2018 annual reports by Dr. Hassan and the EMCAN delegation.
The duo of Mrs. Pauline Sule, the Agency’s Director of Press and
Mr. Bagudu Majidadi, a top management staff, joined their DG in a
group photograph with the visiting EMCAN officials.
By Abdulsalam Mahmud