COP26: Jeff Bezos hails Nigeria’s resolve to restore degraded lands

American billionaire and founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for his leadership role in restoring degraded lands in the country.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘In Glasgow, American billionaire, Jeff Bezos, hails President Buhari’s climate change actions.’

Bezos, on Monday, joined President Buhari, President Emmanuel Macron of France, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritanian, and Prince Charles at a COP26 side event themed ‘Accelerating land restoration in Africa, the case of the Great Green Wall (GGW) initiative’.

“We are fortunate to have President Buhari of Nigeria with us today,” Bezos was quoted as saying in the statement signed by Shehu.

‘‘Nigeria plays a critical role in the restoration movement and has pledged to restore four million hectares of degraded lands. This kind of ambition coming from Africa’s largest economy underscores just how vital this issue is.”

The Bezos Earth Fund has a $10 billion fund to allocate to projects fighting climate change.

According to Shehu, Nigeria is due to assume the leadership of the Conference of Heads of State and the Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall.

President Buhari, in his address at the event, appealed to fellow leaders to continue to make concerted efforts at land restoration.

“I am optimistic that Africa’s ambition of restoring over 100 million hectares of degraded landscape for productive agriculture is achievable,” he said.

The President also pledged Nigeria’s commitment to expanding the achievements of the GGW programme in Africa under the leadership of President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania.

“Together, we commit to the transformative process of restoring the African degraded landscape and ultimately the continent’s environment,” he added.