The Kaduna State government says it will soon commence the planting of 1.5 million trees in all local government areas of the state.
The exercise would come during the 2016 farming season as part of effort to check deforestation.
The State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, announced this at an event to mark the 2016 World Environmental Day organised by the State Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
The Governor urged people of the state to imbibe the culture of keeping their environment clean and always avoid cutting down trees across the state.
He expressed dismay with the poor attitude of people in cleaning up their environment and the increased rate of deforestation in the state, stating that such attitude pose a great danger to the environment.
He pointed out that government had good policies and programmes that would set standards for the environment, and that they would continue to carry out campaigns to ensure it achieves the desired objective in that regard.
Governor El-Rufai also announced that the state government would collaborate with the Federal Government to dredge River Kaduna for better utilisation.
Earlier, the state’s Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Shehu Balarabe, said that various awareness programmes have been put in place to educate people on the importance of keeping their environment clean.
High point of the event was the cleaning up exercise by the Governor and other top government officials, symbolic tree planting and presentation of awards to schools for keeping their environment tidy.
The theme for this year’s Celebration is “Join the Race, Better the World”.
