Another look at the Great Green Wall project

Following the approval of the project, Senegal has today become a reference point for others because it has not only successfully executed the project as designed, but it has also started reaping the advantages as envisaged in the programme.In the last few years, Nigeria has sponsored officials to travel to Senegal to learn how the […]

Following the approval of the project, Senegal has today become a reference point for others because it has not only successfully executed the project as designed, but it has also started reaping the advantages as envisaged in the programme.
In the last few years, Nigeria has sponsored officials to travel to Senegal to learn how the project in that country became successful. But how we have put the lesson of their visit to Senegal to use is a question that experts are asking.
The African Union programme as a model to help in the fight against desertification entails eco-system restoration of dry lands, and it is envisaged to create a green belt of 15 km wide and 7,775km long from Senegal to Djibouti  
In Nigeria, the project is expected to establish a Green wall or shelterbelt from Kebbi to Borno state, as well as promote dryland agricultural technology and alternative means of livelihoods for millions of Nigeria residing along the route.
Prof. Abdoulaye Dia, Chief Executive Officer of the Pan-African Agency for the Great Green Wall, said during a recent visit to Nigeria that the project was not only about forestation but a means of eliminating rural poverty on the continent.
He stressed the need for Nigeria to integrate agriculture into the project to ensure that the rural dwellers are not left out of the envisaged benefit.
He called on Nigeria to take the leadership role expected of her on the GGW.
Minister of Environment, Mrs Lawrencia Mallam, said that Nigeria was determined to implement the project, lamenting that more than 35 per cent of the country’s land area was threatened by desertification.
She said: “Over 923,768sq km of our land area is threatened by desertification affecting the livelihood of more than 40 million people. Nigeria believes that the GGW will contribute to addressing these issues as well as play positive roles in the fight against the insurgencies being experienced in the northern part of the country.”
The commitment from the Federal Government as enumerated by the minister is, however, not matched with action as the project has suffered several setbacks in terms of implementation.
Previous governments made several attempts at kick-starting the project, with President Goodluck Jonathan releasing N10 billion for the project. Observers are of the view, however, that Nigeria has yet to show the desired commitment to the project.
The project is being implemented in 11 front line northern states but recent interaction with the states showed more needed to be done for Nigeria to catch up with other countries operating the project.

Kano:
Alhaji Abdullahi Abbas, Commissioner for Environment in Kano State said the state planted over 425,000 seedlings under the the project which started last year but due to some shortcomings, it can only account for less than 20 per cent of what was planted.
He attributed the shortcomings to delay in release of fund and lack of boreholes and other working implements.
“The importance of this project cannot be overemphasised, you know, most of our people are living in rural areas, about 70% of our people, we have problem with the desert encroachment, especially in the local governments that are affected,” he said.
He appealed to the minister and all the stakeholders to put seriousness into the implementation of the project so that efforts and funds spent on the project won’t be wasted.
Dr. Garba Saleh Ahmad, Director of Forestry and Ecology at the ministry, while speaking on the challenges they are facing in Kano regarding the GGW project, said they have done what they were asked to do in 2013 which included the establishment of shelter belt, community orchards and nurseries in the communities but the major challenge was lack of water at the orchard site and the shelter belt area.
Another challenge, he said, is lack of protection. “Even though we agreed on the utilisation of the forest guard, that is specifically meant for the shelter belts which means the orchard should be fenced. Without the fencing, we experienced problem with animals that browse on those seedlings we planted,” he said.
Ahmad added that attacks by insects at the sites is also worrisome, saying there is need, this year, to make provision for chemicals for treatment.
He noted that the insects attacks are witnessed all over the northern parts of the country not only on orchards and shelter belt even in private and individual farms.
Adamu Abdullahi, Ward Head of Kadandanni in Makoda, one of the benefiting communities, said he believed that if the plants were properly tendered, the benefits will be enormous because.
He said: “Since the commissioning of the GGW project which I participated in planting, I am always taking care of it but my challenges now is that most of the plants are dead for lack of water and we have problem of termites attacks and we are yet to receive the chemicals promised us by the government.”  

Jigawa:
Dr Hassana Hussani Adamu, Commissioner for Environment Jigawa State, said the GGW programme in the state started at the same time with other frontline states.
“We are on the second phase, we have already done the first phase which is the planting of the trees in respective communities starting with Babura and Saitin Kaka and now we are going into the livelihood programme,” she said.
However, one of the challenges, she said is “if we don’t get to plant early, the rain is not really predictable, so if you plant late you may not get a good yield and then you lose lot of plants,”  

Kebbi:
The commencement of the 2013 planting season was done in Kebbi State where the former Minister of Environment, Mrs Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafiya, planted some of the procured seedlings.
Isiaku Daudu, Commissioner for Environment, said the event took place in Kebbi State in June last year. Kebbi is one of the frontline desert states and welcomed the idea believing it will reduce desert encroachment there.
Daudu said the state drilled boreholes costing about 27 million and provided all the accessories and seedlings for the successful implementation of the project.
He expressed his fear about the programme, however, saying there was need for early planting of trees. “We have a period of just two to three months of rainfall, if planting is not done in good time they are bound to fail,” he warned.
There is also the problem of fencing the shelter belt to protect it from animals. He said: “We planted in about 84 kilometres under GGW. Now, we have just about 25 to 30 percentage of that because cattle ate most of the things that are there. I have been saying this over and over, if we want to succeed on our shelter belt, we need to fence them.”

Borno:
Hassan Mustapha Alminami, Commissioner for Environment, Borno State, while giving the highlight of the state GGW project, noted that they were able to plant about 20 kilometres of shelter belts and established four community orchards complete with fencing and boreholes, in spite of the security challenges in the state.
He added that the insurgency has impacted negatively not only on GGW programme but in everything.
He said: “People are no longer able to stay in one place and earn their livelihoods, even students are no longer able to go to schools and traders are no longer able to stay in one place and trade. So, insurgency has affected virtually everything in my state.”

(To be continued next week)