The federal government will partner the World Bank to establish Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACRESAL), a programme to remediate drylands and wetlands across the country.

The Minister of Environment, Mohammed Abdullahi, disclosed this at the 16th meeting of the National Council on Environment in Abuja on Thursday. He said the effort would improve the semi-arid areas in the country.

Mr Abdullahi explained that the ministry had commenced discussion on establishing the National Institute of Environmental Studies to provide ideas for addressing environmental challenges.

According to him, Nigeria has also assumed the Pan African Great Green Wall (PAGGW) leadership to address land degradation in the country. President Muhammadu Buhari was elected as the leader of the Conference of Heads of State and Government for a two-year term.

“Accordingly, Mr President is driving the funding initiative under the Great Green Wall (GGW) accelerator to fund each country’s priorities. Closely aligned to the objectives of the PAGGW is the need for a robust tree planting campaign,” stated Mr Abdullahi. 

The minister added that Mr Buhari launched the campaign on the sidelines of the PAGGW Council of Ministers Meeting on June 16. 

“States are encouraged to drive their tree-planting campaign so that collectively we can meet the 25 million trees target by 2023,” added Mr Abdullahi. “There is no better time to reset our relation with nature than now.” 

(NAN)