In a major policy shift aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s fight against desertification and climate change, the Federal Government has approved the relocation of the operational headquarters of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) from Abuja to Kano State.
The move, announced by the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, is expected to bring the agency closer to its core operational areas and enhance the implementation of environmental restoration programmes across northern Nigeria.
According to a statement issued on Thursday, the relocation aligns with the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and is designed to improve efficiency, coordination, monitoring, and service delivery in frontline states affected by desertification and climate-related challenges.
The National Agency for the Great Green Wall is Nigeria’s implementing institution for the African Union-backed Great Green Wall initiative, a transcontinental environmental programme spanning more than 11 African countries and aimed at combating desertification, land degradation, biodiversity loss, and the impacts of climate change across the Sahel region.
In Nigeria, the programme covers eleven frontline states—Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara—which are among the areas most vulnerable to advancing desertification and environmental degradation.
The minister said the agency’s mandate includes the establishment of a 15-kilometre-wide and 1,500-kilometre-long Green Wall corridor across northern Nigeria to restore degraded lands, improve food security, promote environmental sustainability, and reduce rural poverty.
Lawal noted that despite operating from a temporary rented office in Abuja, the agency has recorded notable achievements since the programme commenced in 2013 and was upgraded to a full-fledged agency in 2015.
These achievements, he said, include the establishment of more than 100 shelterbelts and the construction of approximately 159 solar and wind-powered boreholes aimed at improving water access in vulnerable communities.
He explained that relocating the agency to Kano would address logistical and operational constraints associated with coordinating projects from a location far removed from the intervention areas.
“By moving the headquarters to Kano, which is centrally located within the operational zone, the agency will be better positioned to monitor projects, coordinate with state governments and local communities, and deliver services more effectively,” the minister stated.
The new headquarters will be situated within the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit (APCU) complex in Kano, a federal facility established in 1988. The facility has reportedly remained underutilised since the conclusion of the World Bank-supported Arid Zone Afforestation Programme in 1996.
Government officials believe the relocation will not only provide the agency with a permanent operational base but also strengthen field oversight and stakeholder engagement across the Great Green Wall corridor.
The development reflects the Federal Government’s broader policy of positioning agencies closer to their areas of responsibility to improve efficiency, reduce bureaucracy, and bring governance closer to the people.
Observers say the relocation could mark a significant turning point in Nigeria’s efforts to combat desertification, restore degraded ecosystems, and build resilience against the growing threats posed by climate change in the country’s northern region.