Borno Government plans Over 1m trees to be planted across the State.

The Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has launched the 2023 tree-planting campaign with 1.2 million trees to be planted across the state.

Governor Zulum launched the campaign at Borno State University Teaching Hospital to curb desertification and other environmental problems.

“If (tree felling) is left unchecked, we may one day find that the whole of Borno State is a desert. We are all aware that we have lost more than 80% of our vegetation in the state to insurgency. All the trees around our village communities have been cleared for security reasons, and some were cleared for firewood” Governor Zulum said.

The Governor also announced that the State Government will plant 10 million seedlings in 2024 campaign exercise.

He explained that each of the 27 Local Governments will raise 200,000 trees to make up 5.4 million trees while the State Government will raise about 5 million trees.

Governor Zulum urged Ministry of Environment and all the local government areas to ensure the seedlings were raised early for the tree-planting to commence early next year.

Commissioner, Ministry for Environment, Alhaji Emat Kois said 1 million seedlings will be distributed to government agencies, private organizations and housing estates.

He called on non-governmental organizations, clubs and others to support the campaign by planting and nurturing trees to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Highlight of the occasion was the symbolic tree-planting by the Governor, his deputy, Umar Kadafur, Speaker of the State Assembly and other dignitaries.