The Kaduna State government has said it will plant 10 million trees in four years under its afforestation programme.
The Commissioner of Environment, Abubakar Buba, who spoke to stakeholders on Wednesday in Kaduna, said the plan was geared towards mitigating the effects of climate change and protecting the environment.
He said that the government had already planted 1.7 million trees in 2024.
Buba assured that the ministry would double the number of trees that would be planted in 2025.
According to him, the ministry’s nurseries have generated the seedlings.
“The major challenge of climate change is carbon emission –greenhouse gases and the likes–and the major thing that absorbs carbon dioxide is trees.
“We expect residents not just to plant trees but to nurture them to grow not just in the cities but in the suburbs and villages as well,’’ he said.
He commended Gov Uba Sani for initiating what he described as greener and cleaner Kaduna State.
Buba also described Sani as an environmentally friendly governor.
‘’The governor also mandated us to de-silt about 140 kilometres of drainages within the city centre so as to check flooding during the raining season by easing the free flow of water.’’
The commissioner said that the governor had asked the ministry to dredge River Kaduna and other water bodies within the state.
“The water that will flow into the rivers as a result of our desilting of the drainages will be so much that at the end of the day, it will flow back to the people’s houses,’’ he said.
Buba commended Sani for the increased allocation to the environment in the 2025 budget, adding that the governor had promised substantial implementation of the budget.
