According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra has directed students of both private and public schools in the state to adopt a tree each in the bid to save the environment.
Inaugurating the one million tree-planting programme in Awka on Friday, Obiano lamented the damage done to the state by erosion which threatened the livelihood of the people.
Obiano said that Anambra, the second least endowed with land mass in the country, had its environment depleting due to erosion while Lagos which was the least was growing into the sea.
The governor urged the residents to take responsibility of preserving and protecting the environment by keying into the tree planting programme.
“Today, we are kick-starting the one million tree-planting project and we want the people of Anambra to embrace it and shun unfriendly environmental practices.
“It will be introduced in the schools and each student should be made to adopt a tree, named after him or her to in turn nurse and nurture it for history and prosperity sake,” Obiano said.
The Commissioner for Agriculture in the state, Dr Afam Mbanefo, said the ministries, departments and agencies were collaborating to ensure that environmental impact assessment was done to save the environment.
Mbanefo, who is a member of the project team, lauded Obiano for conceptualising such project targeted at reducing the impact of erosion to the barest minimum.
“We have high percentage of erosion challenges in Anambra and that is why we are adopting a combination of planting economic trees and preserving the old ones”, he said.
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