Read at : Google Alert – desertification
Delta receives Trans-Saharan expedition leader
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta has directed the chairmen of the 25 local councils in the state to check indiscriminate felling of trees and encourage beautification of the environment. Uduaghan also told the chairmen to encourage the planting of flowers and trees to check environmental degradation and urged Nigerians to take the issue of environmental preservation and sustainability seriously. The governor spoke Saturday in Asaba at a reception for the Delta-born Trans-Saharan expedition Leader, Chief Newton Jibunoh.
Jibunoh, 70, recently returned from a two-month Trans-Saharan expedition across Africa and Europe to raise global awareness on the effects of desertification.
Uduaghan said Delta government would blaze the trail by planting flowers and trees on the Benin-Asaba expressway up to Onitsha bridgehead and at the roundabout in Warri and Effurun.
He commended Jibunoh for undertaking a successful expedition across the Sahara Desert for the third time at the age of 70 years.
The governor said that the expeditions had raised global awareness on issues of environmental conservation.
Earlier, Jibunoh thanked the state government for the honour bestowed on him and said his team travelled more than 16,000 kilometres through 11 countries across Africa and Europe.
He said the expedition was undertaken under the auspices of his NGO, “Fight Against Desert Encroachment (FADE),” to draw attention to the dangers of desert encroachment and desertification.
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The “Desert warrior” said his latest expedition was his last.
