The need for government to promote growth through effective public and private sector partnership is increasingly becoming inevitable. This gesture was recently demonstrated when the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW), expressed interest to work with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) known as Connected Development (CODE), through her Follow The Money initiative, to encourage efforts of local communities in the sustainable management and use of forests. ETTA MICHAEL BISONG writes on this collaboration and its benefits to implementation of the agency’s mandate.
The Great Green Wall (GGW) scheme brings together Nigeria and several other countries to grow a shelterbelt of forest to curb the spread and effects of desertification across sub-Saharan Africa and improve the quality of livelihoods of communities within the region.
Chief Executive of CODE, Hamzat Lawal, during a courtesy visit to the corporate head office of the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW), disclosed that a team of officials of “Follow The Money” – an initiative being implemented by CODE – visited communities in the northern states of Kebbi, Kano and Jigawa in order to take analysis of the actual situation on ground.
Lawal, informed the Director General of the NAGGW, Goni Ahmed that the purpose of his organisation’s visit to the agency was to share their field findings and discuss on the implementation framework of the GGW scheme.
“We visited Bachaka in Kebbi State, Kadandanni in Kano State and Jeke in Jigawa State. All three communities had water challenges, nurseries are dying and this is because either the boreholes are broken, not functioning properly or some parts were missing,” he said. “CODE hopes to work with the agency to hold town-hall meetings with the communities as we are working to provide a platform for interaction between the locals and the agency in order to make the project succeed.”
The CODE’s helmsman hinted that all three communities were quite enthusiastic about the project and the traditional leaders supportive of the project as well, acknowledging that all the shelterbelts were faring well in all three communities. However, he observed that all the communities suffered from a high rate of poverty and lacked access to water.
To make the communities take ownership of the project, Lawal revealed that CODE is currently finalising plans with several media partners to air programmes on the GGW project and also plans to establish a community radio as well, so that the communities can be reached and get enlightened on the GGW project.
“CODE is also planning to work with the GGW agency to have a stakeholders meeting in Abuja, where different key stakeholders will be invited to discuss how to make the GGW project succeed. Everyone is aware of the budget allocation but no one talks about the releases and constraint around the GGW. We are also hoping to have an expert meeting where CODE and NAGGW can pull resources together and bring someone from the international community for a one- or two-day workshop on Re-greening Nigeria and the NAGGW can take the lead on that. CODE has identified an expert who has worked on this issue around East and West Africa.
“We are planning to build a tool in collaboration with NAGGW that will be an independent tracking system on the progress of the project, because CODE has discovered that nobody is talking about the achievements of the GGW project. The plan is to gather data using the tracking system and then use the data to inform both the communities and the general public, and most importantly policy makers, in terms of how we will be able to show the results and then advocate for more budget allocation for this intervention.
We are hoping that your Agency will own this tracking system and commit to using it; where we can then commission state monitors independently who will send reports and feedbacks. We hope to engage the communities involved in the GGW to document their findings by sending reports via the tracking system before engaging the larger society/stakeholders. The essence of this initiative is to create a feedback loop between the communities and the implementing government agencies,” Lawal stated.
Responding, Goni Ahmed said the office was initially a project implementation unit under the Federal Ministry of Environment before it was formally established as an agency in May 2015, adding that the idea was for it to be a community based agency. According to him, his team started with 92 communities and are currently in 138 communities.
The DG/CEO stated that the communities are the sole beneficiaries of the GGW project, so they have to be involved, underlining the importance of having the state governments supports the project and provide land as well as funding from their Ecological Fund allocations.
“For example, the Governor of Katsina State assisted the project by giving a directive that GGW should be provided with land,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said his agency identified all the communities they are working in and they are having high rate of poverty as well as lack access to water. The idea behind the windmill and solar powered boreholes is because the communities cannot sustain a borehole powered by generator or electricity due to the epileptic power situation in the country.
According to him, “The agency is new and we are learning from our mistakes and making amends. We are committed to ensuring that all three communities as you have reported are budgeted in our plan and water provided within the shortest period of time and we would improve security around the boreholes as we are now putting up lights in all locations.”
The helmsman further stated that the GGW agency is still in the process of setting up its bank accounts, but that because of the TSA, the process is slow. But he is confident that, by next month (March), the agency would be up and running.
“We promise to be open, transparent and accountable to every kobo received on behalf of the NAGGW. I run an open door policy and would appreciate if you engage us more and do feel free anytime to call on me or visit the office for any information at all on our activities,” he told the visiting team (CODE).
Expressing his appreciation towards CODE, Ahmed said the visit has reinvigorated his belief in the role of NGOs who, according to him, “play an important role in the society, and when a credible NGO goes out to put up a case, people will believe them more than the government.”
He hinted that NAGGW is planning to convene a stakeholders meeting probably in March where the President, state governors and other government agencies will be invited to showcase the GGW project.
“The plan is to outline the role and responsibility of every institution in respect to the GGW project, which was lauded in Paris during the COP 21 meeting, and Africa was seen to be taking charge of her own problems by herself,” Ahmed said.
In Nigeria, the GGW aims to address desertification, enhance natural resource management and promote ecosystem integrity in the dry-land in the Northern parts of the Country. The Nigerian Project stretches from Zamfara and Kebbi states in the North West corner along the northern border of Nigeria to the extreme eastern border in Borno State. Eleven States are involved in the project.
The GGW, an initiative spearheaded by African heads of state, will stretch about 7,000 from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east and will be about 15 Kilometres wide as it traverses the continent, passing through Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
