Uyo — President Goodluck Jonathan has said the Federal Government is determined to combat desertification and reclaim lost land in the Northern part of the country.

Reacting to concerns by Nigerians on desertification on his facebook website page, he said he was personally studying a scientific paper on the benefits of a plant, Jatrophas Curcas in solving the desertification menace.

He also said that the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Water Resources would be supported to address the problem.

"I follow your comments and suggestions. Shehu Kangiwa raised questions regarding what the administration is doing to combat desertification in the North.

Nigeria, before oil and gas, depended on agriculture, cotton, groundnuts among others in the North; palm oil, coal among others in the East and cocoa and timber in the West. Most of our food were grown locally.

Thus I understand the threat of desertification within the context of our overall national livelihood and security."

"If the desert is allowed to continue its advances, we and the generation to come will be in trouble. Food crops hardly grow on desert except the land is irrigated.

The environment is something that I had spent time on, long before I expressed interest in partisan politics."

He also said he will no longer accept rhetoric from government officials on the state of federal roads, pointing out that he will personally travel on the roads to see and verify the conditions.

"I have read your comments about the state of our roads particularly the Lagos-Benin, Abuja-Kaduna, Onitsha-Enugu and Yola-Maiduguri roads. I had directed the Minister of Works to speed up repair works and report progress to me."

"I will not be satisfied with rhetorics and I will travel on the federal roads myself to see that progress has been made. Loss of lives and man hours on our roads is unacceptable and there must be progress.

Under my leadership, government activities must lead to practical results for the people not just on paper," he said.

Though, construction works are on-going at various sections of the East-West road, from Warri-Yenagoa-Port-Harcourt and Uyo, when this reporter passed through the road, last week, the Port-Harcourt end of the federal road is filled with potholes.