 Elsewhere, the National Agency for the Great Green Wall says it has planted 10 million trees across 11 front-line states, considered to be worst hit by climate change. Its director-general Yusuf Minar Boka stated this while, during tree planting in commemoration of this year's Great Green Wall Day, represented by Somalia Nasirudu, the DG says. The aim of visiting schools, traditional institutions and public places is to inculcate the habit of tree planting among Nigerians. On his part, Zanfara State Gov. Dal Dalawal, represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, enjoined citizens to embrace the habit of planting trees to tackle climate change degradation, among other major challenges. The 11 front-line states are Sokoto, Kebe, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, Bolchi, Gumbay, Ademawa, Zanfara, Yobay and Bonu. So far we have planted over 10 million trees in Nigeria, and it has affected enormous lives of people living in that corridor. And there are other programs again, they are doing for empowerment for youth and women to alleviate suffering of people living within those communities. We all know we are facing a lot of challenges in climate change due to desertification and land degradation. So the importance of tree is so enormous, which cannot be over-emphasized. It reduces the heat level of the environment. It maintains the ecosystem as well as top the emission of carbon dioxide, which will absorb carbon dioxide by tree and release oxygen. It's a global issue. Even if you are not concerned with our climate, our climatic environment, I think we have been suffering from inconvenience. The banditry we have been witnessing all has been not limited to environmental climate change. Between the farmers and the poachers and what have you, Gresil and Rasul reserve have been taken away either by desertification or by encroachment of farmers into lands. So I think there is a need for us to have green belts, follow these trees, fortify ourselves against desertification. In fact, it has been reported that in every year, we lose more than 16 kilometers of our country out of land to this desert desertification encroachment so far.