Poor financial provision/mobilisation has been a major obstacle to the effective and impactful implementation process of the activities of the laudable Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative in virtually all the participating member states, the Minister of Environment, Alhaji Mohammed Abdullahi, has said.

The minister spoke at the opening ceremony of the Technical Committee of Experts Meeting of the Eigth Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers of the GGW Member Countries holding at Sandralia Hotel, Jabi, Abuja.

Represented by the Permanent Secretary, Engr Hassan Musa, the minister said the paucity of financial resources for the implementation of the GGW led to the several billions of dollars pledged by a coalition of Technical and Financial Partners (TFPs) at the fourth edition of "One Planet Summit" on climate change and biodiversity held in Paris, France, on January 11, 2021.

He, therefore, urged the GGW member countries to come up with workable strategies that would help them access the pledged funds.

He said, "This done, the development of impact and transformative programmes and projects to absorb the mobilised resources would no doubt build the resilience of the Sahelian people.

"Distinguished technical committee of experts, the task ahead of you is enormous, and I have no doubt in my mind that you will do justice to the agenda items and come out with credible recommendations that attract the blessings of the council of ministers when they deliberate on your recommendations."

Dr Brahim Said, Executive Secretary of the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall, said the projects which spanned Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan brought hope to the African states of the Sahara-Sahelian strip

He said, "As you know, the march towards the social well-being of our populations requires initiatives that bring hope. The Great Green Wall initiative is and remains one of them for us."