By Atoyebi Nike
Gombe State Commissioner for Water, Environment, and Forest Resources, Mohammed Fawu, has called for urgent collective action to protect Northern Nigeria’s water resources, warning that climate change, population growth, and poor land use threaten millions of livelihoods.
Fawu made the call on Tuesday at the opening of a stakeholders’ engagement for developing strategic catchment management plans for the Gongola, Gali-Lamurde, and Hawal-Kilunga basins.
He described the initiative, supported by the World Bank-funded ACRESAL project, as a “blueprint for sustainable water management and resilience against environmental shocks,” noting that it will provide a framework for basin-wide conservation efforts across Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe, and Borno States.
The commissioner commended Governor Muhammadu Yahaya, Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, for championing bold environmental initiatives, including the Gombe Goes Green (3G) programme, which has planted over five million trees in five years.
“With the Federal Government’s target of restoring four million hectares of degraded land by 2030, Gombe State has positioned itself as a beacon of climate action,” he said.
Fawu added that ACRESAL interventions such as gully stabilisation, afforestation, and bioremediation are already transforming degraded landscapes, while the engagement outcome would boost wetland management, climate finance access, and institutional capacity building for long-term environmental security.
“Today, we gather not just as stakeholders, but as stewards of a shared future,” he declared.
