The Federal Government has relocated the operational headquarters of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) from Abuja to Kano, a move it says will improve the agency’s efficiency in tackling desertification, land degradation and climate-related challenges across northern Nigeria.
The decision was announced in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Federal Ministry of Environment.
Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, said the relocation aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and is intended to strengthen implementation of the Great Green Wall Programme in Nigeria’s frontline states.
According to the minister, “The strategic move, driven under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, is aimed at significantly improving the Agency’s effectiveness in implementing the Great Green Wall Programme across Nigeria’s frontline states.”
The Great Green Wall Programme is an African Union initiative involving more than 11 member states and is designed to combat desertification, land degradation and the effects of climate change across the Sahel-Sahara region.
In Nigeria, the programme covers Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states.
Lawal said the agency is mandated to establish a 15-kilometre by 1,500-kilometre green belt aimed at improving environmental sustainability, mitigating climate change, strengthening food security and reducing rural poverty.
The minister highlighted achievements recorded since the programme began in 2013 and its transition into a full agency in 2015. These include the establishment of more than 100 shelterbelts, the construction of about 159 solar and wind-powered boreholes, the engagement of 600 youths as forest guards, and the creation of 240 hectares of community orchards and woodlots.
He said relocating the headquarters would address operational challenges associated with managing projects from Abuja, which is far from the agency’s primary areas of intervention.
“By moving to a permanent location in Kano, a central hub within the operational zone, the Agency will achieve better monitoring, stronger coordination with state governments, local authorities, and communities, and more efficient service delivery,” he said.
The new headquarters will be located at the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit office in Kano, a federal facility established in 1988. The complex has remained underutilised since the end of the World Bank Arid Zone Afforestation Programme in 1996.
Lawal said the relocation reflects the Federal Government’s policy of positioning agencies closer to their operational areas.
He added that the decision was intended to “enhance efficiency and bring governance closer to the people.”
The minister expressed confidence that the move would strengthen implementation of the environmental programme and deliver greater benefits to communities affected by desertification and environmental degradation across northern Nigeria.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
Follow us on:
