By Miriam Humbe
The Federal Government has relocated the Operational Headquarters of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) from Abuja to the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit (APCU) Office in Kano to enhance operational efficiency.
Director, Information and Public Relations in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Ibrahim Haruna disclosed this in a statement signed on Wednesday.
The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, said the strategic move, driven under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is aimed at significantly improving the Agency’s effectiveness in implementing the Great Green Wall Programme across Nigeria’s frontline states.
The NAGGW Programme is an African Union initiative involving over 11 member states, designed to combat desertification, land degradation, and the adverse effects of Climate Change in the Sahel-Sahara region.
In Nigeria, the programme targets 11 frontline states, namely: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara states.
The Minister said that the Agency’s mandate is to establish a 15km by 1,500km Green Wall belt to enhance environmental sustainability, mitigate climate change, improve food security, and alleviate rural poverty.
Since the inception of the programme in 2013 and its upgrade to a full Agency in 2015, significant achievements have been recorded, including:
• Establishment of over 100 shelterbelts;
• Construction of about 159 solar and wind-powered boreholes to improve water security;
• Engagement of 600 youths as forest guards; and
• Creation of 240 hectares of community orchards and woodlots to boost household income and reduce poverty,” he added.
The Minister stressed that the relocation would address longstanding challenges associated with operating from a temporary rented office in Abuja, far from the project sites in the far North.
“By moving to a permanent location in Kano, a central hub within the operational zone, the Agency will achieve better monitoring, stronger coordination with state governments, local authorities, and communities, and more efficient service delivery,” he added.
Kano also hosts the existing Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit (APCU), a Federal facility established in 1988.
The APCU office complex, which has been underutilised since the World Bank Arid Zone Afforestation Programme ended in 1996, now provides suitable and permanent accommodation for the Agency.
He further emphasised that this decision reflects the Federal Government’s policy, under the President’s directive, of locating agencies closer to their areas of operation to enhance efficiency and bring governance closer to the people.
The Minister expressed confidence that this relocation, a key priority of the current administration, will significantly strengthen the implementation of this critical environmental intervention for the benefit of millions of Nigerians in the affected regions.
