The Bauchi State Government has established environment and climate change clubs, making students ambassadors of tree planting across the schools in the state to prevent environmental degradation, desertification and flooding.

The Commissioner of Housing and Environment, Hon. Danlami Kawule, while launching the clubs across the schools, held at the Government Girls College, Bauchi said that the government believed that the students are better as ambassadors of environmental conservation.

He said that the ongoing actions of the residents of the state has caused more harm to the environment where several trees are being brought down every time across the state. Kawule said that it is a crime to fell a tree without the knowledge of the government through the Ministry. “We have to be notified for approval before any tree can be cut down and the condition for approval is by planting three trees as replacement.”

The Commissioner said that the government is handing over the green torch of environmental stewardship to the most energetic, creative, and capable segment of the population, our youths.

“The reality before us, we do not need to look far to see that our climate is changing. In Bauchi State, we feel it in the shifting patterns of our rainfall. We see it in the aggressive encroachment of the desert in our Northern borders. We witness it in the intense heatwaves and the devastating floods that periodically disrupt our communities and farmlands.”

He added that,”Environmental degradation is no longer a distant threat we read about in textbooks or watch on the news; it is a reality at our doorstep. It threatens our agriculture, our water supply, and the livelihoods of our parents.”

The Commissioner explained that, “As the Ministry of Housing and Environment, we can formulate policies, plant trees, and clean up waste. However, structural policies alone cannot win the war against climate change. To build a resilient and sustainable Bauchi State, we must win the hearts and minds of our people. And there is no better place to start than right here in our schools.”

Also, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mr. Yamai Mohammed, one of the key activities is planting of trees, of which the government policy is one man, one tree.

The School Principal, Haj. Hadiza Ibrahim, commended the Ministry for the initiative saying that it would further complement the existing programme of the College on issues of environment.

She assured that all the trees planted to launch the Club in the College would be nurtured by the students for the benefit of the community.