Nigeria is set to launch the largest reforestation campaign in history as Vice President Kashim Shettima announced the federal government’s plan to plant 20 billion trees in the next rainy season.
The new landmark tree planting policy amplifies the earlier “10 Billion Tree-Planting Initiative” proposed last year by NatureNews, Africa’s leading environmental and climate change newspaper.
NatureNews in August 2024 unveiled its vision for a phenomenal tree-planting campaign aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change and restoring degraded landscapes across Nigeria.
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Speaking in Ethiopia, where he toured agricultural and industrial projects inspired by the country’s Green Legacy Initiative at the weekend, Vice President Shettima described Ethiopia’s environmental transformation as a model combining climate resilience with economic empowerment and job creation.
Drawing inspiration from this success, he said Nigeria now aims to mobilise its population toward a similar climate and developmental goal.
“We intend to plant 20 billion trees in the next rainy season. It requires a lot of planning, energy, and drive, which Ethiopia was able to galvanise its population into doing,” Shettima stated.
“If Nigeria and Ethiopia work, Africa will work. Jointly, the two of us constitute over 350 million people, more than the population of the United States.”
This bold step reflects not only government policy but a growing public mandate.
Earlier this year, NatureNews conducted a national opinion poll in Nigerians asking respondents whether the federal government should declare a national day for tree planting.
An overwhelming 82% voted “yes,” while only 11% opposed the idea, and 7% expressed indifference.
The result underscored the nation’s increasing awareness of the environmental crisis and the people’s readiness to take collective action on climate mitigation.
The NatureNews’ reforestation initiative, unveiled in August 2024, had proposed to the Nigerian government the planting of 10 billion trees over a period of ten years (2026 – 2035) and called for a unified campaign involving all stakeholders.
