Governor Babagana Zulum announced on Monday the appointment of Mr. Usman Aliyu as the Director-General of the Borno State Agency for the Great Green Wall (GGW). The announcement was made in a statement issued by Abdurrahman Bundi, the Senior Special Assistant to Zulum on New Media.
The GGW is an African Union project aimed at combating desertification in the Sahel region and preventing the Sahara Desert’s expansion. Governor Zulum expressed his expectation for the highest level of commitment and dedication from Aliyu in his new role.
Aliyu graduated from the University of Maiduguri with a BSc in Geology in 2007 and later earned a master’s degree in Environmental Management in 2015. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Environmental Management at the same university. His career includes various roles in both the private and public sectors, such as serving as a coordinator under the now-defunct Federal Ministry of Mineral Resources and Geological Survey in Kano, and working with the Borno State Green Hub Africa and the Kano State Ministry of Environment. Aliyu hails from Hawul Local Government in Borno.
The GGW project, adopted by the African Union in 2007, focuses on establishing mosaic greenbelts within the identified GGW corridor in Nigeria, which spans the drylands of the northern states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara. This ambitious initiative is being implemented across 22 African countries and aims to revitalize thousands of communities across the continent.
The GGW brings together African countries and international partners under the leadership of the African Union Commission and the Pan-African Agency of the GGW. Over USD 14 billion has been raised and pledged to support this initiative, which aims to restore 100 million hectares of currently degraded land, sequester 250 million tonnes of carbon, and create 10 million green jobs by 2030.
