Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State says his administration is working towards issuing a N50 billion green bond to raise funding for environment-related investments to address climate change issues in the state.

Mr Yahaya disclosed this on Monday while presenting the state’s 2024 budget before the Gombe State House of Assembly.

Green bonds are fixed-income, liquid financial instruments used to raise funds dedicated to climate mitigation, adaptation and other environment-friendly projects.

The governor said that his administration, over the past four years, had demonstrated commitment towards tackling the state’s environmental challenges and restoring the forests in the state that had been depleted.

“In our first administration, we set up a task force to restore our grazing and forest reserves.

“We are working on issuing a 50-billion-naira Green Bond, the first in the country by a state government, to raise funding for environment-related investments.

“During our first term, we undertook the rehabilitation of the 7.5 km of monstrous gully erosion traversing GSU through Mr Inna with the help of NEWMAP.

“We are following up with the recently signed 21km FCE (T) gully erosion control through a partnership with ACReSAL,” he said.

The governor also said that to further address the challenges affecting the environment, a sum of N18.3 billion had been allocated for the Water Resources, Environment and Forest Resources subsector in the proposed 2024 budget.

Mr Yahaya presented a budget proposal of N207.7 billion for 2024 to the state House of Assembly on Monday.

The budget is tagged “Budget of Continuity and Consolidation.”

(NAN)