Jeff Bezos, American billionaire and founder of Amazon, has heaped praises on Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, for his leadership role in restoring degraded lands in the country.
This is as Bezos described Buhari’s commitment to restore four million hectares as exemplary.
Bezos said this in Glasgow, Scotland, when he joined Buhari; French President, Emmanuel Macron; Prince Charles; and Mauritanian, President Mohamed Ghazouani, at a COP 26 side event entitled “Accelerating land restoration in Africa, the case of the Great Green Wall initiative.”
Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in a statement titled ‘In Glasgow, American billionaire, Jeff Bezos, hails President Buhari’s climate change actions.’
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Commending the President at the event co-hosted by President Macron, his Mauritanian counterpart, and Prince Charles, the retail tycoon said:
“We are fortunate to have President Buhari of Nigeria with us today.
“Nigeria plays a critical role in the restoration movement and has pledged to restore 4 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 $10 billion to allocate to projects fighting climate change.
Nigeria is due to assume the leadership of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall.
Buhari had used the occasion of his address to appeal to fellow leaders to continue to make concerted efforts at land restoration saying:
“I am optimistic that Africa’s ambition of restoring over 100million hectares of the degraded landscape for productive agriculture is achievable.”
The President also pledged Nigeria’s unalloyed commitment to expanding the achievements of the GGW programme in Africa from the enviable status attained under the leadership of President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania.
President Buhari said:
‘‘Together we commit to the transformative process of restoring the African degraded landscape and ultimately the continent’s environment.”
