Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, Gombe State Governor has launched this year’s tree planting programme in his state. The ceremony was performed at a conjunction event at Bage community in Funakaye local government area of the state. The programme which is aimed at combating desertification and promoting environmental sustainability was also utilised to present cheques to beneficiaries of the Community Revolving Fund (CRF), a scheme designed to empower local communities and stimulate economic growth through accessible financial support.
Governor Yahaya, while addressing community leaders and environmental stakeholders at the event, said, “Through the Gombe Goes Green (3G) project, we planted about 4 million trees in order to mitigate desert encroachment, prevent erosion, and reverse land degradation. It is therefore clear that our resolve to take climate action through sustainable tree planting over the past five years is borne out of the need to address the visible adverse effects of climate change on our environment, economy, and agriculture.”
According to him, “With partnerships from the World Bank, initially through the NEWMAP project and now through the ACReSAL project, we have successfully addressed and remedied several severe gully sites in Gombe State, bringing relief to affected communities and safeguarding the livelihoods of our people.”
He further said that the state government recovered about 140 hectares of land through its afforestation campaign, and said that the recovery was part of a larger plan to deliver a total of 1,905 hectares of afforestation in 2024. The governor said, the state also ensured the “planting of 1,742,400 seedlings of various types such as mahogany, syzygium, mango, cashew, eucalyptus, and moringa.”
He then presented cheques to beneficiaries of the ACReSAL’s Community Revolving Fund (CRF) to enhance the capacity of community and farmer groups to practice climate-smart agriculture, promote sustainable agricultural practices, address local conflicts, and foster mutual understanding and peace in communities for the overall economic prosperity and well-being of the people, while warning beneficiaries of the Fund to ensure they are not utilized for a different purpose.
The governor stated that “The facility is not a grant or a government largess but a loan that must be repaid within the stipulated time to allow others to benefit. The loan should be used prudently to improve agricultural production, enhance food security, and uplift community welfare.”
Abdulhamid Umar, National Project Coordinator of ACReSAL, said the 2024 tree planting campaign as launched by Governor Yahaya underscored the importance his administration attaches to the environment, saying he had seen laudable initiatives of Gombe state government to that effect.
