President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration would continue to keep the issue of reviving the Lake Chad on the front burner, in order to ensure that developed countries assist the affected region.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) and his investiture as Patron of the foundation, Buhari said it was regrettable that the issue of the receding Lake Chad had not been addressed before now.
He said: “The problem of climate change is real. The desert encroachment is aggravating it. The population explosion in Nigeria is another big challenge.
“The drying up of Lake Chad is a serious thing for Nigeria. Among the Lake Chad Basin countries, Nigeria is much affected because fishing, animal husbandry, and farming are affected very seriously.
“We are trying to prick the conscience of developed countries to quickly execute the interbasin transfer from Congo Basin to Chad Basin.”
President Buhari also welcomed the advocacy by the foundation on the need to protect endangered plants and animals in the country.
To this end, the President directed the Federal Ministry of Environment to reflect this in its budgetary requirements in the next fiscal year.
Earlier in his remarks, Alhaji Ahmed Joda, member, Board of Trustees of the foundation told the President that the nation’s wildlife was fast becoming extinct.
