The Babura Youth Development Initiative in Jigawa State has launched a tree-planting campaign with a target of 500 seedlings in 2025.
At the flag-off ceremony, the group’s executive director, Mustapha Umar Babura, said the campaign was part of their efforts to raise public awareness on the significance of tree planting in tackling environmental degradation.
He said Babura local government area, a border community between Nigeria and the Niger Republic, is prone to desertification, which is why his organisation chose the tree-planting campaign as one of its key annual projects.
Mustapha said the organisation mobilised 500 seedlings, 300 of which were economic trees for the exercise.
These were distributed free to the residents for planting, while the remaining 200 were planted on the roadside in the Kofar Yamma area of Babura town.
According to him, the emphasis on economic trees offers multiple advantages, including ecological preservation, food security, and achieving a sustainable, resilient environment.
He added that the association’s campaign aims to complement Governor Umar Namadi’s administration’s efforts in tackling desertification, global warming, and other forms of environmental degradation.
At the weekend event, the chairman of Babura council, represented by the councillor for Babura Ward, Hon Lawan Abdullahi, commended the organisation for its effort.
He said the local government is undertaking a tree-planting programme and has deployed guards to protect the seedlings from destruction.
