Agency Fights Desertification In Bauchi State

Bauchi State Environmental Protection Agency, BASEPA, planted 200 different species of trees in two communities of Yakubun Bauchi and Magaji Quarters, Bauchi local government area of North-Eastern Nigeria.

During the monthly sanitation exercise on Saturday, Director General of the Agency, Dr Ibrahim Kabir, said that “the exercise is to encourage the general public to key into tree planting activities, and BASEPA is ready to provide free seedlings for massive afforestation activities in the state.”

Dr Kabir also said that planting trees is an important activity that helps “restore the quality of the environment, provides shade and beautification of the environment, other benefits of trees in the environment include wind protection, protection against water flooding, soil erosion, drought as well as mitigating the effects of climate change among others.”

While at Gwabba inspecting a cleaning exercise organised by Muslims Women Group, the Director General commended them for embarking on this important activity, promised to organise special training for waste management practices for the group and to link them up with relevant organisations to further their activities in all parts of the State.

Answering questions from the Media, the Director General rated the exercise as successful, saying that BASEPA, in collaboration with the Ministry and the local government will come up with a serious sensitisation campaign for people to be participating in the exercise by organising cleaning activities, instead of staying indoors during the conduct of the exercise.

He also assured the two communities that his agency will continue working with them and shall be among the first beneficiaries of whatever interventions BASEPA will embark on in the future.

Rt Hon. Danlami Ahmed Kawule and Hon. Zainab Baban Takko, who also joined the Director General during the conduct of the exercise, commended him for the milestone achieved through numerous innovations and pledged to continue working with BASEPA for the development of the State.

The community leaders of Yakubun Bauchi and Magaji Quarters, Abdullahi Yusuf Limanci and Mallam Yushe’u Muhammad alongside other members of the two communities who spoke during the exercise appreciate the Director General’s selection of their communities to benefit from the planting campaigns exercise and pledged to give all the necessary care to the plantations upto maturity level to achieve the target objectives.

The team included the Commissioner, Ministry of Housing and Environment, Rt Hon Danlami Ahmed Kawule and Chairperson, Bauchi local government, Hajiya Zainab Baban Takko as contained in a statement by Isyaka Laminu Badamasi, SA Media to DG BASEPA.

Tribune/Shakirat Sadiq