The Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) says it planted 38,000 different species of trees on 180 hectares of land in eight local government areas of Gombe State in 2018.
Malam Mohammed Garba, the Project Coordinator, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 that the World Bank assisted project of the Federal Ministry of Environment planted woodlots and orchards in the eight LGAs.
Garba said that the objective of the project was to address the problem of environmental degradation in the LGAs.
The project coordinator listed the eight local government areas covered as Billiri, Kaltungo, Shongom, Kwami, Nafada, Funakaye, Dukku and Yamaltu-Deba.
According to him, NEWMAP started with the eight local government areas because they are the most vulnerable.
He said that the environmental degradation in the state were mostly due to human factors and could be controlled by free planting.
“This is because if the soil is too much exposed, other aspects of erosion can come thereby leading to environmental degradation,” Garba said.
He said that NEWMAP had also constructed boreholes across the local governments where the trees were planted to ensure that they thrived and achieved the purpose for their cultivation.
The coordinator said that the agency also undertook sensitisation of the people in the council areas on the need for appropriate waste disposal to avert the devastating effect of flooding.
Garba said that one of the major challenges NEWMAP encountered with execution of the project was acquisition of land in LGAs of the state.
He made an appeal to people and the authorities concerned to cooperate with the agency in its execution and implementation of the project.
The project coordinator said that in year 2018, NEWMAP supported Gombe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) with rescue materials and organised manpower training for officials of the state Ministry of Environment.
By Hajara Leman
