Kano Govt Urges President Tinubu, AGF To Review Alleged Alienation Of APCU Environmental Facility
From Muhammad Kabir, Kano
Kano State Government has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice to urgently review the alleged alienation of the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit (APCU) complex in Jambulo, Kano, describing the facility as a critical national environmental asset that must be preserved.
The Commissioner for Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Dr Dahir M. Hashim, made the appeal on Friday while addressing a news conference in Kano over the reported attempt to take possession of parts of the historic federal environmental complex.Breaking news alerts
Dr Hashim urged the President and the Attorney-General, who now oversees matters previously handled by the dissolved Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties, to defend the Federal Government’s ownership of the property and take all lawful steps to preserve the entire complex for its original environmental and public purposes.Entertainment news
He also appealed to the Federal Ministry of Environment to sustain its opposition to the reported alienation, pursue all available legal remedies against the reported eviction order and immediately undertake a comprehensive survey, demarcation and documentation of the property.
According to the commissioner, the APCU complex is not an abandoned government property but a permanent federal environmental facility established in 1988, with a history dating back to the Arid Zone Afforestation Programme of the late 1970s.
He noted that the complex has served for decades as a regional centre for afforestation coordination and the training of forestry personnel responsible for protecting northern Nigeria from desertification.Geographic Reference
Dr Hashim said the Kano State Government was concerned by reports that parts of the property were allegedly allocated to private interests despite objections from the Federal Ministry of Environment and warned that any attempt to fragment the facility would undermine national efforts to combat desertification and climate change.
‘’The Ministry is therefore deeply concerned by reports that portions of this historic property were purportedly alienated to private interests following recommendations attributed to the now-dissolved Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties. We understand that the Federal Ministry of Environment disputed the proposed alienation and that the recommendation was subsequently withdrawn.Kano local news
‘’It is consequently disturbing that people claiming interests in portions of the property have reportedly obtained an order seeking the removal of the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit, the National Agency for the Great Green Wall and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency from the premises.
‘’Let me be clear: while the Kano State Government respects the authority of the courts and will not interfere with the judicial process, any attempt to convert this strategic environmental facility into private residential or commercial plots is against the overriding public interest. It is particularly unpatriotic to pursue the fragmentation of a facility that the Federal Government has deliberately selected as the operational base for coordinating the fight against desertification across eleven frontline states.
The importance of the complex goes beyond its buildings. Its mature plantations constitute one of the remaining concentrations of established vegetation within the expanding Kano metropolis. The trees provide carbon sequestration, reduce urban heat, improve air quality, support biodiversity and protect the surrounding environment from wind and soil erosion.
Destroying or fragmenting this green area would eliminate a valuable urban carbon sink that has taken decades to establish and cannot be replaced by compensatory planting elsewhere.
The commissioner noted that the property presently houses the relocated operational headquarters of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW), from Abuja to KanoKano local news
The recent relocation of NAGGW has restored the complex to full strategic use. It now provides administrative offices, technical facilities, an environmental laboratory, residential accommodation and an operational base closer to the communities and project sites most affected by land degradation.
It is also positioned to support national and internationally funded land-restoration programmes.
Removing these institutions would undermine the very objective for which the President relocated the Agency to Kano.
He reaffirmed the state’s commitment to supporting the Federal Ministry of Environment, the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW), the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and APCU in protecting the complex.
“The Kano State Government stands firmly with the Federal Ministry of Environment, NAGGW, NESREA and APCU in protecting this national environmental asset,” the commissioner said, adding that public environmental assets must remain in public service.
