By: Jacqueline Emefa Ampo
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, has been mandated by the government as the exclusive agency to provide seedlings for the national tree-planting exercises. The decision is to prevent the issues of alleged profiteering observed during the previous administration.
Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, said this during an interview with GBC NEWS.
He announced that the government intends to create a platform to unite research institutions, academia, and the private sector. It will enable the private sector to harness valuable research for their respective endeavors.
“I think that our research institutions have the capacity, the capability to be able research to help advance the course of the growth of this country. That is why this time round, we have decided that CSIR should provide the seedlings. We are not going to rob the people of this country as we experienced in the past administration.”
On land reclamation, Mr. Muhammed, said planting commercially viable trees, such as coconut trees, will incentivize people to protect the environment.
“If we look at areas where we want to reclaim the land the land and we plant such commercially viable trees, everybody will be encouraged. They will even have the knack and interest to protect them because, they know when the trees grow, it is a means of generating some money for them.”
The Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister appealed to religious leaders to play a pivotal role in promoting environmental sustainability and healthy living in the country.
