The Federal Government has approved the relocation of the operational headquarters of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall from Abuja to Kano to improve monitoring and efficiency in frontline states.
The Minister of Environment Balarabe Abbas Lawal announced the move on Tuesday, saying the decision aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda to bring agencies closer to their areas of operation.
The NAGGW headquarters will be moved to the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit office in Kano. The APCU complex, established in 1988 under the World Bank Arid Zone Afforestation Programme, has been underutilised since 1996 and now provides permanent accommodation for the agency.
Lawal said the relocation addresses challenges of operating from a temporary rented office in Abuja, far from project sites in Nigeria’s far north.
“By moving it 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,” the Minister said.
The Great Green Wall is an African Union initiative involving more than 11 member states to combat desertification, land degradation and climate change in the Sahel-Sahara region. In Nigeria, the programme targets 11 frontline states: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.
Lawal said NAGGW’s mandate is to establish a 15km by 1,500km green wall belt to enhance environmental sustainability, mitigate climate change, improve food security and alleviate rural poverty.
Since the programme began in 2013 and became a full agency in 2015, the Federal Government said it has recorded achievements including: Establishment of over 100 shelterbelts; Construction of about 159 solar and wind-powered boreholes to improve water security;
Engagement of 600 youths as forest guards; and creation of 240 hectares of community orchards and woodlots to boost household income.
The Minister expressed confidence that the relocation, as a key priority of the current administration, will strengthen implementation of the intervention for millions of Nigerians in affected regions.