Climate change experts and stakeholders have advocated tree-planting as part of promotion requirements for Bauchi state workers.  The state government, during a two-day dialogue on climate change policy, supported by the Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) and OXFAM Nigeria, recommended in a communiqué that afforestation should be tied to worker’s promotion.

If adopted, workers would be mandated to plant and nurture trees before qualifying for their next promotion as part of measures to reduce the impact of deforestation.

The dialogue was held yesterday to formulate a climate change policy, where the state could address some of the effects of global warming. One of the recommendations was for the government to ‘introduce the planting of trees as a means or condition for promotion of both state and local government employees.”

One of the speakers, Dr Micheal Terungwa David, said 2023 was the hottest year on record – and could also be the coldest ever seen again, adding that 2024 had already broken that record. He warned that if urgent measures are not taken, excessive heat and downpours stand as potential threats to food security.

David urged the government and other stakeholders to invest more in climate change mitigation.

“In recent experiences, we could see hundreds of thousands of farmlands washed away by flood.

“We need to reduce the indiscriminate felling of trees and encourage afforestation. Our survival is threatened,” he warned. Governor Bala Mohammed, who was represented by the Commissioner for Housing and Environment, Danlami Kawule, pledged his administration’s continued support for climate policies.