President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed optimism about Africa’s ambition to restore over 100 million hectares of the degraded landscape for productive agriculture. According to a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, the President said this on Monday in Glasgow, Scotland at the Climate Change Summit, COP 26, side event on the Great Green Wall (GGW).
The event tagged, “Accelerating land restoration in Africa, the case of the Great Green Wall initiative,” was co-hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, the Prince of Wales, and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. In his remarks, President Buhari said it was noteworthy that the meeting was tailored towards ameliorating the problems of land degradation, desertification, depletion of the forest ecosystems, and biodiversity in Africa.
“With all hands on deck and concerted efforts at land restoration by African leaders, I am optimistic that Africa’s ambition of restoring over 100million hectares of the degraded landscape for productive agriculture is achievable,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.
President Buhari added that Nigeria would soon assume the leadership of the Conference of Heads of State and the Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall.