Senate moves to establish green wall agency

The bill, “The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (Establishment) Bill 2015,” sponsored by Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross Rivers), was read for a second time in the upper chamber. Ndoma-Egba said that its passage was crucial in view of the fact that about 43 percent of Nigeria’s total land area is under […]

The bill, “The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (Establishment) Bill 2015,” sponsored by Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba (PDP, Cross Rivers), was read for a second time in the upper chamber.
Ndoma-Egba said that its passage was crucial in view of the fact that about 43 percent of Nigeria’s total land area is under the threat of desertification.
This, he said, if not tackled would have devastating effects on food security, sustainable livelihoods and social security of over 40 million people in the affected states.
He argued that Nigeria signed the Great Green Wall Convention in 2010 with the specific goal to address land degradation and desertification in the Sahara and Sahel region involving 11 African countries.
He said the thrust of the bill is to provide a Green wall of trees or Shelter belts from Kebbi to Borno state, a distance of 1, 500km and 15km width to wedge the southward expansion of Sahara desert and improve land productivity.
Senate President David Mark expressed the hope that the agency, when established would addressed the plight of residents of the affected states and help address the incessant clashes between farmers and Fulani herdsmen.