Gov Yusuf flags off 3 million trees planting program in Kano

By Umar Muhammad

Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf on Sunday flagged off the planting of three million trees across the 44 Local Government Areas of the state in collaboration with the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL).

SOLACEBASE reports that initiating the program in a ceremonial setting, Gov. Yusuf had planted a tree along the State Road by the state Government House.

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The governor said the exercise “will be along the major roads across the metropolitan Local Government areas of the state so as to encourage the good people of the state to come out to start planting trees in their houses, on the roads as well as all the other places just for the benefit of the people and for us to discourage the negative effects of climate change.

“Most of the trees that are old in the state have been cut off by so many users so we want to ensure that the older ones are replaced.

“We want to as much as possible in conjunction with ACReSAL – a World Bank programme to purchase so many of those seedlings. So far we have chosen about three million seedlings that will be distributed across all the 44 Local Government Areas of the state. The largest share of about 1.5 million will be distributed and planted across major streets in the eight metropolitan local government areas.

In a remark, Kano ACReSAL Project Coordinator, Dr Dahir Muhammad Hashim said the project is aimed at arresting the menace of climate change which has exposed the state to excessive heat of recent.

Hashim said that with the initiative given the desired consideration, the issues which endangered the living conditions of all living things will surely come to an end while witnessing a better and healthier life.

“Carbon Dioxide and oxygen are exchanged in a whole cycle in plants. Thus, more tree planting would aid in lowering the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide. The more trees planted, the cleaner the air will be and the air will be pure and free of toxins if there is sufficient oxygen.

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“When the weather is chilly and windy, the trees planted around the edge operate as windbreakers.”

”The roots of the trees protect the soil, while their leaves break the force of the wind and lessen the effect of rain on the ground. As such, trees deal with soil erosion, capture rainwater, and monitor stormwater flow and sediment accumulation.”

He noted that with the 3 million trees to be planted this year, a total of over 10 million trees will be planted and protected before the end of the first term of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration.

”So at least we are going to make sure that a minimum of 2.5m are planted and protected before the end of this year with the mechanism we have put in place.”

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”More than twenty neighbourhoods in Kano are bearing the names of trees which shows the importance attached to tree planting decades ago and most of the trees are almost not in existence again.”

”The settlement with the names of trees include Kurna, Gigiyun, Rimin Kebe and Dorayi among others”

According to the Project Coordinator, three measures put in place to protect the trees include sensitization, policy to protect the trees and discouragement of tree felling for firewood.

ACReSAL is a World Bank-assisted Project in collaboration with the federal government and 19 northern States including FCT aimed at addressing the challenges of land degradation and climate Change in Northern Nigeria on a multi-dimensional scale.