Chinazor Megbolu
11 November 2009
Lagos — In line with its fight in tackling the climate challenges facing the country and the world at large, a group, Nigeria Conservative Foundation (NCF), is seeking increased funding to enable it to sustain its programme on re-forestation.
NCF's President, Chief Philip Asiodu, made the call at the Foundation's 20th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held recently at its office in Lekki, Lagos, and said that it would certainly help if they could access sizeable international funding to mount large sustained programme for re-forestation over all the degraded forest areas from 2010 to year 2020.
He explained that during Nigeria's independence in 1960, the country had 30 per cent forest cover, which is under 4 per cent as at today, and also stressed that the National policy adopted in 1988 was to restore Nigeria to 25 per cent forest cover by 2010 in accordance with the recommendation of the F.A.O.
In addition, Asiodu pointed out that their initial commitment to stop gas flaring by 2008, which was later extended to 2010, did not make much progress due to non availability of funds.
He posited that NCF has realised that they need the corporate organisations, well-trained manpower and the funds to enable the Foundation deliver, buttressing that this is encouraging the recent Federal Government announcement of allocating 1.5 per cent of the total budget to ecological funds.
Asiodu also averred that they hope greater care would be taken to ensure that judicious expenditure of such funds on well selected ecological programmes, as well as seek private sector participation on devoting resources to best environmentally sustainable practices.
Meanwhile, NCF Chairman, Mr. Hamzat Ahmadu, in his speech said that the effects of climate change defy age, social status, ethnic interests, party politics, international law, profession and business networks.
He added that a mistake globally made was the process of industrialisation, which was a collective error that now warrants collective responsibility.
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