Climate change: Niger state warns residents against tree felling

Umar Bago, governor of Niger, says given its abundant natural resources, the state has no business being poor.

Bago spoke on Sunday night when he hosted journalists at the government house in Minna, the capital city.

The governor said the state will “aggregate” forests in the state for carbon credit and to mitigate the impact of climate change.

On the two-day green economy summit scheduled to begin on Tuesday in the state, Bago said the event will be an opportunity for Niger to explore and harness the full benefits of sustainable environmental practices.

“We are holding the first of its kind green economy summit because we have seen the comparative advantage we have in this state,” he said.

“So much money is out there and the only way we can access carbon credit is when we first aggregate our forests and trade them in exchange for the emission by multi-national companies.

“Niger state has the largest congregation of shea trees in the world — it is an endowment by God.

“These things nobody knows about are there but our women are on the farms, cutting them down to make firewood.

“We, however, need them to understand that we must protect our forest from deforestation and also promote afforestation.

“We have two major rivers. One, on the left side — River Niger and to the right side — River Kaduna. Niger is the only state with this endowment. You can navigate from Baro until you get to the Atlantic.

“So Niger state is not supposed to be poor. Now we have been given an opportunity to write history but we don’t want to write it alone.”

The governor said while his administration is working to address the insecurity in the state, progress is being made in awarding contracts for road construction and enhancing paddy rice production.

“I went for peer review yesterday in Kano because Niger state is the largest producer of paddy rice in Nigeria but our rice mills are nothing to write home about,” he said. 

“I heard of the largest rice mill in Africa in Kano and I went for peer review.”

The governor said his government has rolled out measures to cushion the effect of petrol subsidy removal on residents.

He said about 200 CNG buses have been purchased to commute students for free while civil servants will use the service at a subsidised rate.

The governor said about 566km road projects have been awarded and more will follow in due course.

“It is unprecedented in this state. We are so ambitious,” he said.