Bauchi To Benefit From Federal Govt’s $70m For Jatropha Plantation

Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with Bionas, will establish Jatropha plantation on the corridors of the Great Green Wall (GGW) for biofuel production.

The commissioner for housing and environment, Hon Danlami Ahmed Kawule, said the federal government has secured $70 million from a Malaysian company for the project.

Kawule, who explained that Bauchi would benefit from the project, said that his ministry is doing everything possible to address desertification challenges through the implementation of laws, regulations and effective enforcement mechanisms, notwithstanding the unnecessary interference from non-professionals.

Presenting his ministry’s scorecard at the re-introduced ministerial press briefing on Wednesday, the commissioner explained that the ministry would address the issue despite the problem of illegal logging, which can lead to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and negative impacts on local communities and indigenous peoples.

On Climate Change, the commissioner stated that the ministry has contributed to mitigating climate change by promoting afforestation, reforestation, and sustainable forest management practices aimed at reducing carbon emissions and improving carbon sequestration.

He recalled the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project, a $700,000,000 World Bank-assisted project that kicked off in June 2022 and lasted six years.

According to him, the project aims to address the lingering issues around Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources in the Nineteen Northern States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.

“The project’s mission is to address environmental challenges arising from climate change and poor land use practices in Northern Nigeria. The vision is to have strong practices and policies on ecological restoration and a climate-resilient community,’’ he said.

Kawule gave the project development objectives (PDO) to include increasing the implementation of sustainable landscape management practices in integrated watersheds in Northern Nigeria and strengthening Nigeria’s long-term enabling environment for integrated climate-resilient landscape management.

Kawule revealed that the target is to restore one million hectares of degraded land and improve people’s livelihoods across the nineteen northern states.