Nigeria: The Director-General, Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF), Dr. Muktari Aminu-Kano, has urged Nigerians and critical stakeholders to join the reforestation efforts of the nation’s environment sector, in a bid to limit the devastating effects of climate change.
He stated this at the inauguration of the 8,000 tree seedling planting project organized by NCF in collaboration with American Towers Company (ATC) Nigeria, a firm which operates telecommunication base stations in Lagos.

The event had in attendance, members of the foundation, environmental enthusiasts, staff and representatives who planted about 60 tree seedlings in Lekki Conservation Centre and Grace Island, a suburb of Lekki.
The Director-General lamented that Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest forest destruction and deforestation rate, warning that there has to be a change of attitude. Although the Great Green Wall movement in Nigeria has made some progress in the restoration of over 3,892 hectares of land, the DG emphasized the need to plant more trees in the country as their relevance to the economy and environment cannot be overstated.
He said: “You have more watersheds when you have more trees. You have enriched soil where you have trees, but by destroying trees through deforestation, we are bound to lose the high services that are provided by these trees. Though, government has made pledges with the international community, it is up to Non-Governmental Organizations and individuals, who are environmental enthusiasts to achieve the mandate.”
Also, he urged state and non-state stakeholders to retrieve the forests from bandits and terrorists, who have made the forests their habitations and continually use them for their heinous acts.
Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest forest destruction and deforestation rate…
Corroborating the Director-General, the Foundation’s Head of Environmental Education, Ms. Abidemi Balogun, said that every country ought to have a minimum of 28 per cent of its landmass covered with forests. Also, she identified some factors which contribute to the degradation of forest cover in Nigeria: logging and desertification.
“ATC wishes to mitigate the carbon footprint. For us at the Foundation, our goal is to achieve at least thirty per cent of Nigeria’s forest cover in thirty years, hence the partnership. NCF has an initiative called Green Recovery Nigeria and ATC is contributing their quota. We are simply helping each other to achieve each other’s goals and objectives,” she said.
The tree-planting project is not limited to Lagos, other states of the country including Oyo, Delta, Enugu, Anambra, Nasarawa and Kwara will also benefit from the project.