Kaduna State governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai flags off Keep Kaduna Green Project, plants first tree

Kaduna state governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai today alongside Minister of
Environment Amina J. Mohammed at the Kaduna Sate University of Science and
Technology launched the 'Keep Kaduna Green project' a project that will ensure
the Kaduna state government in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment
plant over a million trees every year.
In a Facebook post, the governor pointed out the benefits of the project and
even planted the first tree of the project.

'Let me begin by welcoming all our distinguished guests to Kaduna. I
thank you most warmly for identifying with our project to make our state
green by planting at least one million trees every year.
'Our government considers the Keep Kaduna Green Project an important
intervention. In planting one million trees every year, we intend to achieve
many goals. Across our state, we will thereby be checking desertification.
We will be creating jobs for the people who will plant and nurture the
trees. The trees will ultimately grow and improve the look of our cities
and towns. The shade and reassuring feel that leafy neighbourhoods
project should be accessible to all residents of our state in their own
neighbourhoods.'
'Trees play such a crucial role in the human drama. They help provide
shelter, fuel and food; assist soil stability, protect water sources, and
generally improve the environment. Yet too many people treat trees with
regrettable indifference, cutting them down without replacements,
destroying whole forested areas for purposes ranging from farming to real
estate.'
' Like most things with which nature has blessed humanity, there is a
need for the necessary awareness and determination to use them in a
sustainable way; to realise that these natural endowments need time to
regenerate and that human beings are the ultimate losers when we adopt
an attitude of unrelenting exploitation.'
Therefore, we will accompany our Keep Kaduna Green project with a
determined effort of public education. The goal is to foster a keen
appreciation for nature across the generations. The projection is to
engage about 26,000 persons across the state in the massive tree-
planting effort we have embarked on. We trust that they will do their best
to nurture the trees. But there is no doubt that our effort to Keep Kaduna
Green will succeed only because our communities collectively support the
project.
' I believe that we can persuade our people to invest their effort in
protecting our environment, in beautifying our cities and in creating jobs.
Thus our grassroots approach to realising the goals of the Keep Kaduna
Green Project involves ensuring that 65,000 trees are planted in each
Local Government Area every year. Our communities will be mobilised to
take concrete action against desert encroachment so as to preserve
valuable arable land and ensure food security. In village and city alike,
the cooling effect, and the air-filtering quality of trees are deeply
appreciated.'