NAN-AE-7
Desertification
By Ebere Agozie
Abuja, April 27, 2017 (NAN) Mr Goni Ahmed, the Director-General, National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) says it will partner with the Nigerian Prisons Service to tackle the menace of desertification in the country.
Ahmed said this in a statement issued by the Head of Press and Public Relations of NAGGW, Mrs Larai Daze in Abuja on Thursday.
Ahmed said the agreement for the partnership was reached when he paid a courtesy visit to the Controller- General of the Prisons Service, Mr.Ahmed Ja’afar
He said the partnership was to look at alternative sources of energy in order to minimise the use of firewood.
“The agency has indentified excessive use of firewood as a major problem, in Nigeria, almost 80 to 90 per cent of the people use firewood for their cooking.
“So, while the agency is out there planting trees, some people are busy cutting down trees.’’
According to Ahmed, the use of firewood is more in organised environments like the Prisons, bakeries, schools and many other places with high concentration of people and therefore needing energy for cooking.
The director-general stated that the agency had also identified some key issues of land degradation as well as improving the livelihoods of the people in 11 frontline states in northern Nigeria.
He listed the Nigerian Prisons Service as a key government agency involved in agricultural inputs with a central command that makes it easy to pass down directives or programmes that would curb desertification.
Responding, Ja’afar assured the agency of support of the Nigerian Prisons Service in the fight against land degradation and desertification.
Ja’afar said that the Prisons had high concentration of more than 70, 000 in mates, which requires the use of a lot of firewood to cook for them.
“The service has over 244 Prisons spread across the country out of which 16 are farm sectors, specially established to teach the inmates the act of farming and animal husbandry.
“The environment has changed with the forests diminishing rapidly and rivers drying up while sand dunes have covered up the farmlands, which portends danger.
“This is not only in the frontline states but the entire nation, this has forced the inhabitants to migrate in search of greener pasture and water.’’
He also assured that the service had taken steps after realising it could no longer continue to use firewood for cooking.
According to Ja’afar, efforts are being made to reposition Prisons’ kitchens in order to use gas which is now mandatory for all prisons in the country.
“We have started pilot projects on bio-gas in Port Harcourt and Lagos with intention to harness the bio-gas option for cooking so as to contribute our quota in reducing degradation and deforestation.
This, he said would go a long way in reducing the cutting down of trees and excessive use of firewood for cooking.
He added that in few years to come, the Prisons would phase out the use of firewood. (NAN)
EPA/EEE
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Edited by Ese E. Ekama