NAGGW Gets New Director-General

The Federal Government has appointed Dr. Bukar Hassan as the new Director General of the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW).

Dr. Hassan replaces Mr. Goni Ahmed who has been the DG since the inception of the Agency until his recent disengagement after his 4 years tenure elapsed.

In a short speech during the takeover ceremony, Dr Hassan said he is actually coming back home. He said there is very little he might not know in the Agency. He urged the staff to work with him as a team, saying that he has no doubt that the team he is seeing around are familiar faces except for a few and believes the teamwork will produce good results. He also emphasised the need to work with the junior staff, saying that the most contribution comes from the lower cadre.

Dr Hassan said, the presidency has requested that the Agency work harder and gave a mandate to be briefed on the activities of the Agency before the elections, he said as human beings he believes we have the capacity both humanly and financially and therefore stressed that more efforts should be applied individually and collectively in order not to fail the people that brought them.

The DG said there is the need to strategise and collaborate with other government programmes and activities to achieve the goal of the GGW programme. He announced that the World Bank has promised to come up with financial support if justifiable which he sees as an encouraging opportunity to work harder for the development of this country. He assured that he will be there to work as a team with all relevant departments to put the GGW programme in a sound city in order to leave a good mark.

In his own speech, Mr. Abdulaziz Mohammed Kolo who has been acting welcomed the Director General and said his appointment to the Agency is a home coming considering his pass records. He wished him a successful tenure and thanked the management and entire NAGGW staff success in their endeavours.

Before his appointment, Dr. Bukar Hassan held different positions, from Head of Biological Sciences, University of Maiduguri and various positions in the Federal Ministry of Environment, such as National Project Coordinator of Global Environment Facility (GEF), Assisted Integrated Ecosytem Management (AIEM), Head Project Implementation Unit Great Green Wall and Director, Drought and Desertification Amelioration. He has also played major roles related to the Environment, First National Focal Point in the process leading to the negotiation and adaption and ratification by Nigeria of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Mitigate the effects of drought particularly in Africa, Chairperson and African Representative on the review committee for the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Member Governing Board of Nigeria Geological Surveys and also Governing Board Member of the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory Agency.

Dr. Hassan rose to become the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Environment in 2015, and was redeployed to Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2017 until his retirement in September 2018. He has a Bsc in Botany from the University of Maiduguri, an Msc Crop Production from the University of Bath United Kingdom and a PHD in Arid Zone Ecology from the University of Wales. He also has three post-doctoral certificate from Silsoe Collage, University of Bedford United Kingdom, University of Dresden Germany and Centre for Research in Desertification Control, Valencia Spain.

Larai Daze

Head (Press and Public Relations)

28^th November, 2018