In line with efforts to actualize the Green Recovery Nigeria (GRN) project of increasing the country’s forest cover by at least 25 percent by 2047, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation ( NCF) and ATC Nigeria Wireless Infrastructure Limited (ATC Nigeria) have kicked-off a campaign to plant 12,000 trees in 5 geographical regions including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before the end of the rainy season.
While NCF is a foremost indigenous environmental NGO with the mandate of creating and sustaining a Nigerian society where people live in harmony with nature, ATC Nigeria is a foreign company that owns and operates telecommunication masts.
At the ceremony held in Pan Atlantic University (PAU) Ibeju-Lekki Lagos, the Director General of NCF, Dr. Joseph Onoja reiterated that the foundation remained committed towards the protection and conservation of the Nigerian environment to secure lives and livelihoods of Nigerians amidst the devastating impacts of climate change.
The event featured the planting of five hundred seedlings of exotic , economic and medicinal trees within PAU.
Dr. Joseph Onoja said tree planting was adopted as a major sustainability project which remains the best strategy to address most environmental disasters particularly climate change.
Onoja believed that the ongoing tree planting campaign by NCF and ATC Nigeria would make significant impact in realising the GRN.
Represented by the Programme Coordinator, GRN project, Ms Folake Salawu, he pointed out that the foundation has been partnering different public and private sector organisations in tree planting efforts ,leading to the planting of at least 2.5 million trees across the country since 2017 that the initiative started.
“Today, we are partnering with ATC, Nigerian Wireless Infrastructure Limited, a communications firm who is interested in sustainable development. They are partnering with us to plant 500 trees here at the Pan-Atlantic University, Ibeju Lekki, Lagos. But this is part of a countrywide tree planting activity supported by ATCN”, he said.
“They are planting 12,000 trees across nine states, across five geopolitical zones in 2023. The tree planting program supports the Green Republic Nigerian Project of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation. And the aim of the GRN project is to increase the forest cover in Nigeria to at least 25% of the total landmass by 2047 in line with the Paris Agreement, as well as the Bonn Challenge, which is an outcome of the UNFCCC agreements in Paris” Onoja added.
The NCF Director General listed the states where the ongoing tree planting during the rainy season was being carried out namely Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Benue, Plateau, Gombe, Yobe, Kano and the Federal Capital Territory.
According to him, ” It’s not just about tree planting ; our core calling in NCF is conservation, biodiversity conservation. So we’re very keen in preserving biodiversity across all ecosystems in the country. So while we’re planting our trees, we are also conscious of the kind of species that we plant. It has to be species that support biodiversity and not exotic species that would not support native biodiversity”.
The CEO of ATC Nigeria ,Mr Errol Ambler- Smith, who described the project as a way of giving back to their host nation, said they adopted tree planting to help the country combat climate change and make the environment more conducive for Nigerians.
Ambler-Smith emphasised that ” we’re a company with a very strong social conscience and part of the initiatives that we use in terms of our sustainability program is planting of trees. In 2022 we kicked off the program and planted in excess of 9,800 trees throughout Nigeria and we’re looking to expand that this year to plant in excess of 12,000 trees. This is just one of the initiatives we take to give back and ensure that we live in a sustainable environment. Another one that we’re very proud of is our solar where we’ve reduced the average generator run time on our sites from 21 hours to about eight hours through deployment of solar systems with lithium cycling batteries on majority of our sites throughout the country.
Contributing, the Chief Operating Officer, PAU, Dr Peter Bankole thanked those behind the project, as he underscored the enomous benefits of trees in fighting climate change, enhancing environmental beauty and enabling the thriving of biodiversities like birds and other friendly organisms.
Dozens of volunteers from all works of life were part of the event , which was also an opportunity to sensitize members of the public on the benefits of tree planting , nurturing of existing trees and desisting from any form of deforestation.