…To create 10 million green jobs
President Muhammadu Buhari has said Africa’s ambition of restoring over 100million hectres of degraded landscape for productive agriculture is achievable.
The President stated this at a side event on the Great Green Wall, (GGW), co-hosted by the French President, Emmanuel Macron; Prince Charles, of Wales, and the Mauritanian President, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.
Buhari, therefore, assured world leaders of Nigeria’s “unalloyed ” support towards achieving the goal at the ongoing Climate Change Summit, (COP-26), in Glasgow, Scotland.
His words: “With all hands on deck and concerted efforts at land restoration by African leaders, I am optimistic that Africa’s ambition of restoring over 100million hectres of the degraded landscape for productive agriculture is achievable.
“Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to inform you that Nigeria will soon be assuming the leadership of Conference of Heads of State and Government of the pan-African agency of the Great Green Wall”, the president stated.
According to him, “Nigeria pledges her unalloyed commitment to expanding the achievements of the GGW programme in Africa from the enviable status attained under the leadership of His Excellency, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.
“Together, we commit to the transformative process of restoring the African degraded landscape and ultimately the continent’s environment”, he added.
President Buhari recounted that one of the major outcomes of the fourth edition of the One Planet Summit on Biodiversity, organised by the French Government in Paris, France on 11th January 2021, was the pledge of $19.6 billion by the coalition of international communities to upscale the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative in Africa.
He noted that since the pledges by the financial partners, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification has continued to give technical backstopping to the pan-African agency of the Great Green Wall, through the establishment of the ‘Great Green Wall Accelerator’ for the 2021- 2030 Decennial Priority Investment Plan for the Great Green Wall programme.
Highlighting Nigeria’s role in actualising the land restoration initiative, President Buhari told the side event that the country participated in drafting and harmonising the Results Framework for the Accelerator with five cardinal pillars to address the 2021- 2030 Decennial Priority Investment Plan ambition of the Great Green Wall.
According to him, the five cardinal pillars include: the restoration of 100 million hectares of degraded land; sequestration of 250 million tonnes of carbon; creation of 10 million green jobs; resilient economic development in the various Member States as well as capacity strengthening and development.
On the margins of COP-26, President Buhari accompanied by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Environment (State), Petroleum (State), Power (State), the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK, Sarafa Tunji Isola and the Group Managing Director, NNPC, Mele Kyari, toured the Nigerian Pavilion.
President Buhari stressed that Nigeria’s approach in addressing the physical and socio-economic aspects and effects of desertification, drought and climate change would prioritise the education of the local communities and the use of technology.
