By Aliyu Abubakar
The National Agency for the Great Green Wall is in the vanguard against desertification and land degradation in Nigeria, particularly its arid northern part. As created to lead under the African Union’s Pan-African Great Green Wall Initiative, NAGGW has a worthy contribution toward environmental sustainability in Nigeria, going a long way in furthering the course of the nation’s “Renewed Hope Agenda” championed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
NAGGW and the Renewed Hope Agenda
In consonance with the commitment of President Tinubu to economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, and improvement in the livelihoods of tens of millions of Nigerians, the NAGGW aligns its activities in line with the foregoing. The projects undertaken by the agency bring forth food security, alleviate poverty, and make communities resilient to climate change through land restoration, thereby turning the degraded lands into productive agricultural lands. This constitutes the promotion of agroforestry and sustainable land management practices that help create employment opportunities and improve the rural economy-an important tenet in the agenda known as “Renewed Hope.”.
Another key achievement in which NAGGW is involved addresses the impacts of climate change. The processes and impacts of desertification, for example, have very wide-ranging socio-economic connotations on forced migration, loss of livelihoods, and resources, besides other sundry conflicts. This also includes afforestation and land restoration, therefore cushioning risks and hence contributing to national security and stability.
Achievements of NAGGW
Under the leadership of its Director-General, Saleh Abubakar, MFR, NAGGW has been able to record great milestones toward attaining its goals. Some of the key achievements of the agency are as follows:
- Reforestation and Tree Plantation Programs: The NAGGW has succeeded in planting millions of trees across the Sahel states of northern Nigeria, including states like Yobe, Borno, and Sokoto. In effect, these programs have greatly reduced the rate of desert encroachment and improved the climate in the area, with a correlative increase in biodiversity.
- Land Restoration: NAGGW has rehabilitated many hectares of degraded land, putting them into good condition for agricultural purposes. This has created livelihoods that are sustainable among the local communities and reduced rural poverty.
- Water Conservation: The agency has devised appropriate water harvesting techniques through the building of boreholes and dams in dryland areas. This supplies water both for agricultural and domestic uses and promotes resilience to droughts.
- Capacity Building and Training: AGGW empowers the local community through training in sustainable land management, agroforestry, and modern farming techniques. Equipping farmers with such knowledge helps them raise their productivity while taking care of the environment.
- International Cooperation: NAGGW has been involved in international cooperation with development partners such as the United Nations, the African Union, and other members of Great Green Wall initiatives. Such partnerships have attracted funds and other resources to the organization, thus further enhancing its capacity for efficient delivery of its mandate.
The Leadership of Saleh Abubakar, MFR
Heading the National Agency for the Great Green Wall is Saleh Abubakar, MFR, whose accomplished leadership has won the agency many accolades in recent times. While leading NAGGW, under his astute guidance, the agency scaled up its afforestation projects and championed innovative solutions to land degradation and desertification. Saleh Abubakar’s drive for environmental sustainability, community development, and international cooperation has sealed NAGGW’s reputation as one of Nigeria’s most relevant agencies in the country’s quest to confront climate change headlong.
The relationship built over time with regional and international partners for the agency has been further strengthened by Saleh Abubakar, thus keeping Nigeria a beneficiary in major global initiatives toward addressing desertification and enhancing environmental resilience.
