11 northern states face desertification

Soji-Eze Fagbemi, Abuja - 19.02.2009

THE Senate warned on Wednesday that 11 northern states were in trouble and that 70 per cent of the states have been overtaken by desert.

The Senate President, Senator David Mark, who warned of the imminent danger during a public hearing on Desertification Control Commission Bill 2009 organised by the Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Services, stated that desertification was the severest in terms of devastation, destruction and magnitude.

The 11 states affected are Yobe, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Katsina, Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara and Adamawa, which invariably account for about 43 per cent of Nigeria’s land area.

Senator Mark said a recent study showed that desertification had encroached on a total land mass of 1,650 square kilometres in the frontline states, adding that between 50 and 70 per cent of the states had been overtaken by desert.

The Senate President said Nigeria was plagued by a multitude of environmental problems in varying degrees and that almost every part of the country was characterised by one problem or the other.

According to him, other states were also affected in different ways by similar menace.

He said the number of communities where livelihoods were being eroded on a continuous basis should be a source of concern to all.