From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
A lawmaker representing Zaria City in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Barrister Muhammadu Ismail, popularly known as “Bola Ige”, has vowed to plant 500 trees in Zaria in 2024 to mitigate the effect of climate change in his constituency.
Ismail, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Education and a member of the House Committee on Environment, told the Daily Sun in the Assembly that tree planting would be one of his major projects for the next year.
The lawmaker lamented the disappearance of trees that used to adore the Zaria City some decades ago are no longer there due to human activities around expansion and development, firewood, and charcoal making among others, which now exposed the ancient city to unusual warming.
To get that done, Ismail said he has been engaging his constituents, especially the young ones as a deliberate sustainability plan for the constituency and Kaduna State as a whole.
“Before now when you are approaching Zaria, you would be welcomed by Rimi trees. That is history now due to human activities and expansion,” he stated.
“We all understand the economic, religious and environmental importance of tree planting which is why I and my constituents planned to plant 500 trees as our top priority this January.
“After that, we also want to engage our scholars, religious leaders, medical personnel and community leaders to remind and educate them on environmental sanitation and we are going to move a motion for monthly sanitation in the House so we can clean the state simultaneously at least once a month.
“Again, we are also engaging NDLEA to educate our constituents on the effect of drug abuse and its negative impact on their individual and community journey to success.
“That also becomes necessary because any society that is free of drug abuse has better chances of sociopolitical and economic advancements. We will engage our religious leaders seriously to go back and educate their members on the effect of drug abuse,” Ismail said.