By BASHIR BELLO

The Kano State Government has opposed the alleged alienation of the Afforestation Programme Coordinating Unit (APCU) complex in Jambulo.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the government also opposed the proposed removal of the federal environmental agencies operating from the premises.

NAN reports that the agencies include the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).

The Commissioner for Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Dr Dahir Hashim, made the state government’s position known in a statement issued in Kano.

He said the government was concerned by reports that portions of the historic property were purportedly alienated to private interests following recommendations attributed to the now-dissolved Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Properties.

Hashim described any attempt to fragment the facility as unpatriotic, stressing that the Federal Government had deliberately selected the complex as the operational base for coordinating the fight against desertification across eleven frontline states.

“Let me be clear: while the Kano state government respects the authority of the courts and will not interfere with the judicial process, any attempt to convert this strategic environmental facility into private residential or commercial plots is against the overriding public interest,” he said.

According to Hashim, the importance of the complex goes beyond its buildings, as its mature plantations constitute one of the remaining concentrations of established vegetation within the expanding Kano metropolis.

He said the trees provide carbon sequestration, reduce urban heat, improve air quality, support biodiversity, and protect the surrounding environment from wind and soil erosion.

“Destroying or fragmenting this green area would eliminate a valuable urban carbon sink that has taken decades to establish and cannot be replaced by compensatory planting elsewhere,” he said.

The commissioner further commended President Bola Tinubu’s decision to relocate the Operational Headquarters of NAGGW from Abuja to the APCU complex in Jambulo, Kano, recognising Kano’s strategic position at the heart of Nigeria’s frontline states affected by desertification.

“The recent relocation of NAGGW has restored the complex to full strategic use.

“It now provides administrative offices, technical facilities, an environmental laboratory, residential accommodation, and an operational base closer to the communities and project sites most affected by land degradation.

“It is also positioned to support national and internationally funded land-restoration programmes.

“Removing these institutions would undermine the very objective for which the President relocated the agency to Kano,” he added.

According to him, the Kano State Government commends President Tinubu for dissolving the Presidential Implementation Committee after the federal government found that its activities had extended beyond its original mandate.

This, he observed, had resulted in multiple litigations across the country, adding that the decision demonstrated the President’s commitment to protecting public assets and restoring order to the management of federal properties.

“We respectfully call on the President and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, who now coordinates all matters previously handled by the dissolved Committee, to urgently review the purported alienation of the APCU property.

“We urge the minister to defend the federal government’s title, and take all lawful measures necessary to preserve the entire complex for its original environmental and public purposes.

“We equally urge the Federal Ministry of Environment to maintain its opposition to the alienation, pursue every available legal remedy against the reported eviction order, and undertake an immediate survey, demarcation, and documentation of the property,” he pleaded.

The commissioner said the Kano state government stands firmly with the Federal Ministry of Environment, NAGGW, NESREA, and APCU in protecting such national environmental asset.

“We are ready to provide all necessary institutional and administrative support to preserve the complex and ensure that it continues to serve Kano state, Northern Nigeria, and the country as a whole.

“Our position is clear: public environmental assets must remain in public service,” Hashim stated. (NAN)