THE POLICY WITH LEAH FEATURING DR OKEZIE KELECHUKWU

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:13][music] >> Degraded landscapes in Nigeria from erosion to desertification, what does this actually look like for the average rural community and how rapidly is the situation worsening even as rain sets in?

[00:00:35]Today we are considering the topic empowering communities to restore Nigeria's degraded landscape. My name is Barbara Baku sitting in for Leah. You're welcome.

[00:00:56]We begin the business of the day from Trends Table.

[00:01:10]The Monetary Policy Committee MPC of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN has retained the Monetary Policy Rate MPR at 26.5%.

[00:01:21]Governor Olayemi Cardoso of the Apex Bank at the end of the 305th meeting in Abuja announced that the committee also retained the asymmetric corridor and the cash reserve ratio CRR across board. He said although inflation has increased marginally for two consecutive months, the committee believes the trend is temporal and largely caused by external shocks.

[00:01:46]Inflation has risen marginally for two consecutive months largely induced by external shocks.

[00:01:59]The MPC recognize its transitory nature and remain confident that the current macroeconomic environment is sufficiently robust to support a return to disinflation.

[00:02:22]>> [music] >> Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF Senator George Akume, has cautioned chairmen and members of governing boards of federal parastatals, agencies, and commissions against interference in the day-to-day administration of the institutions, warning that such actions have continued to fuel conflict and undermine productivity in government establishments. Akume, who was speaking at the opening of batch one and two induction program for chief executive officers, chairmen, and governing board members of federal parastatals, agencies, and commissions in Abuja, also charged participants to uphold the principles in good governance, accountability, integrity, and effective service delivery.

[00:03:10]Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I have observed with concern divergent interpretation to the roles governing boards [music] of federal parastatals are expected to play in the corporate governance of their organizations.

[00:03:25]I have to reiterate this.

[00:03:28]It is therefore worthy of note that the day-to-day administration of parastatals is handled by the chief executive who doubles as the accounting officer.

[00:03:37]And I'm sure in the course of your discussion, you understand why I'm underscoring this.

[00:03:44]The federal government has unveiled digital platforms for the Office of the Chartered Ombudsman as part of ongoing to improve tax payer protection, dispute resolution, and transparency in Nigeria's tax administration system. The platforms include an official website, a toll-free call center, and a case management system aimed at providing taxpayers with easier access to compliance, resolution, and mediation services. Speaking during the launch, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, described the initiative as a major milestone in Nigeria's fiscal reform journey.

[00:04:27]>> [music] >> The World Bank Group Guarantee Platform housed at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, MIGA, aims to more than double its annual insurance of guarantees in Africa to $6.4 billion by 2030, aiming to improve the lives of around 190 million people over the next 4 years alone.

[00:04:51]Africa's working age population is projected to grow by 740 million over the next three decades, with up to 12 million young people entering the labor force annually.

[00:05:04]A World Bank statement revealed that guarantees will play a critical role in attracting private capital into job-rich sectors, including agribusiness, energy and infrastructure, health care, digital finance, and trade, creating jobs and supporting Africans' ambitions to become a global engine of growth.

[00:05:34]Next is our policy conversation on the environment.

[00:05:47]Nigeria has lost nearly 90% of its original forest cover over the past three decades, cementing its position among the countries with the highest deforestation rates globally.

[00:06:01]This environmental crisis has been a bother to all.

[00:06:05]Dr. Okezie Kenechukwu has been engaging in community mobilization efforts. He is an Ashoka Fellow, executive director, Neighborhood Environment Watch Foundation, and co-chair Catalyst, among many other titles and portfolios. It is nice to have you with me, sir. Thank you very much.

[00:06:29]When we talk about degraded landscapes in Nigeria, what does this actually look like for the average rural community? It means loss of livelihood.

[00:06:41]It means loss of productivity.

[00:06:44]It means compromised health and well-being.

[00:06:48]It means loss of dignity.

[00:06:52]It means abject poverty. You know, degraded landscape are areas that have lost its productivity, that have lost its integrity.

[00:07:02]Areas, land mass areas that cannot sustain life, that are bereft of vegetation, that are lacking biological diversity, that are exposed to nutrient loss.

[00:07:20]And for that reason, the rural community is a smallholder farmer.

[00:07:28]He or she depends on the land, on the soil for his or her livelihood.

[00:07:33]And so, when that area is degraded, you know what it means.

[00:07:38]That means abject poverty.

[00:07:40]That means income for sustenance, for the well-being of the family is compromised.

[00:07:47]And that means also that there could be crisis, conflicts as a result of that. So, to the rural dweller, he never or she never prays for degraded land. All he wants is a productive land because he wants to be in tune with nature.

[00:08:10]Because his or her livelihood depends on the ecosystem that surrounds him or her. Because it's from the land that he or she gets the produce for his feeding or for income. It is from there that he gets the medicine to treat his sickness. It is there that he gets his economic uh uh activities. You know, some of them could uh harvest honeys. Some of them could harvest mushrooms, you know, nuts and fruits for their well-being and livelihood. So, when that area is degraded, it is a tragic loss for the rural dweller. We always um think about um environmental conservation as a government issue or NGO issue.

[00:09:05]Why is it so?

[00:09:07]And is it supposed to be so?

[00:09:09]It's not supposed to be so because all of us are affected or are involved.

[00:09:18]Environmental conservation should not be left to government or NGO alone.

[00:09:22]But, you know, some of the policies and some of the approaches that are top-bottom approach often takes away ownership of the land from the original owners.

[00:09:35]The land use act, for instance, takes away the ownership of the land from the people, from the community to the government.

[00:09:43]And so, the people that talks about environmental conservation are the government. They are the people that come to plant trees. They are the people that come to tell you, "Please, protect your ecosystem. Protect your environment." It is them Jews that also in the front line advocating for sustainable environment. But, what they failed to understand is that he who wears the shoes knows where it pinches more. The land belongs to the people.

[00:10:13]And so, the people should be part of the process. The people should be part of the conversation. The people should be part of whatever activity that bothers on the environment, on the landscape.

[00:10:25]So, that idea of conservation being government initiative, NGO support is creating that lack of owner for proper environmental conservation and management. And that is why a lot of the rural communities, you see a lot of land degradation because the people are disconnected from their land.

[00:10:47]What you own and what you believe is yours, you tend to protect. You tend to preserve. You tend to conserve.

[00:10:55]And you have ownership of that.

[00:10:58]So, the right attitude is for the government to involve the community the original owners in whatever policy, right from the conception, from the design to implementation, to monitoring.

[00:11:14]I can get site an example in one of the communities my organization worked with.

[00:11:20]From the concept of the idea of protecting their forests, they were part of the process.

[00:11:28]We worked with them on uh tree nursery operations. the youths were involved, the women were involved.

[00:11:36]And what happens is that they protected that area. Till today is a success story.

[00:11:43]If you go to uh Eda community in Abakaliki local government of Ebonyi State, you can cite it. We planted 30,000 trees there.

[00:11:53]The community supported through the uh coordinator supported with additional 12,000.

[00:11:58]The community were part of the whole process. And the trees have stabilized and today they're they're producing.

[00:12:05]The community were involved at the concept.

[00:12:08]And so that is why they have been able to conserve that place. That been able Why they've been able to protect that place.

[00:12:15]Because we work with them. It is a fair need. They know that issues of climate change affects them.

[00:12:23]That conserving this forest will be for their own benefit because they get their medicinal values. They get their livelihood. They get their foods. They get their nuts and many other things.

[00:12:34]They really owned up that project and that is why it is a success. So, it should not be something that should be left to government or NGOs alone. And that is why we're appealing to government.

[00:12:46]In your designing don't think that you know it all.

[00:12:51]The community have that knowledge to support. Let them be part of the process. So, how do we um create um economic incentives?

[00:13:02]How do we uh go about creating livelihoods for individuals as a result of restoring the local ecosystem? That incentive aspect is also needed. And let me also cite example from what we did.

[00:13:19]Uh when we were raising these 30,000 trees we integrated incentive within the concept.

[00:13:28]With 10,000 was devolved among the community members. And we asked them, "Go and plant in your farms, your your own personal farms."

[00:13:39]It's an incentive, economic trees, high-yielding quality economic trees.

[00:13:43]That becomes an incentive for them.

[00:13:46]And like I told you, that become a success story.

[00:13:49]I became an Ashoka Fellow as a result of that activity. You know, it's it's about local action that have global impact.

[00:13:58]So, this incentive gives that uh ownership.

[00:14:04]What government should also do, because you see today, the rate of deforestation is alarming. We are losing our virgin forests at an alarming rate. In fact, Forest Watch is saying, I think uh we are losing over 400 hectare, 400,000 hectares of our forests annually.

[00:14:25]And for this reason, desert encroachment is approaching at almost 1 km every year because of the level of deforestation.

[00:14:32]And these people that are doing this deforestation, most of them don't even know the harm they're doing [clears throat] for themselves. And so, for them to own it up, they should be made understand that it should not be about environment and economy, but about environmental economy. Because protecting it provides income for them. And so, for that reason, there should be incentive.

[00:15:02]Government could say, "In providing basic infrastructures in the communities, for instance, we will say, if you have conserved your landscape, your environment, if you have protected your forest, we will now support you by drilling boreholes or by providing health care." You know, some of these incentives or even by some cash grants. And when such incentive is tied to landscape conservation, protection, it has it gives you results. Success result. And it's not as if it is something that is undoable because some countries, some communities have benefited from Peru, you know, Brazil.

[00:15:48]Even some African countries like Kenya.

[00:15:51]They do it. What the government does is to incentivize the communities.

[00:15:55]Government is needed, is required at this particular time to take action that involves the people.

[00:16:04]When the people know that it benefits them, that there are something to gain from protecting their ecosystem, from having that conservative mindset, that government recognizes therefore the government is going to support them.

[00:16:20]This massive deforestation that we are having today will begin to decrease. And again, let us look at our land policy.

[00:16:29]It's time that we review it.

[00:16:32]The land should belong to the people.

[00:16:34]Because what the government today has managed has not been sustainable.

[00:16:38]But what you own, you effectively conserve it. So government should look at this land policy and give the land ownership to the people. That will help them to protect the environment. Look at what is happening. Mining everywhere and there.

[00:16:54]Mining degrades the environment. Also sustainable agricultural practices destroys the ecosystem and the landscape. Giving honors should not only be left to politicians or to the private entrepreneurs.

[00:17:10]Can we begin to give recognition to traditional rulers that have conserved their forest? That would be an incentive.

[00:17:19]Because we all are globally connected.

[00:17:21]And when a particular area is destroyed, it affects the whole landscape.

[00:17:26]So, let us begin also now to recognize efforts, communal efforts that tends to protect the landscape. It will help us.

[00:17:36]Nigeria has a rich history of indigenous agriculture and land management practices. How can we better blend this tradition, community knowledge with modern climate science to fast-track landscape recovery?

[00:17:52]Thank you very much. One sad story about us is that we do not uh add value to what we have.

[00:18:03]The type of education that we have been exposed is such that looks down on our indigenous knowledge.

[00:18:13]You know, agriculture is something that have been there with man throughout the evolution of mankind.

[00:18:21]Man have been dependent on agriculture.

[00:18:23]So, the indigenous knowledge that have been passed on from generation to generation should not just be discarded. The rural farmer there, even before now, has indigenous knowledge of farm management, of land protection. And in those days, even till now in some communities, they do multi-cropping.

[00:18:49]They they do fallowing. After some years, the land is left fallow for 5 to 7 years for the soil to regenerate itself.

[00:18:59]You know? And they were into mulching.

[00:19:02]They know that the sun is there.

[00:19:05]They know that the nutrient can leach out. So, they add mulching and other mm uh uh uh knowledge that helps to ensure that the plant does well. And in those days, we don't have the food insecurity that we're experiencing today.

[00:19:24]And the harvest is always rich. So, they have the knowledge. But, what is lacking is today, our modern knowledge have relegated our indigenous knowledge to the background. And the sad story about is that we are also losing our indigenous crops to a genetically modified crops that are not sustainable.

[00:19:46]It's very unfortunate. If we go to our communities and take a database of our indigenous crop that have gone into extinction, you'll be amazed. Lots of them. Because government have not seen the reason to document the indigenous agricultural practices.

[00:20:06]The seed data that we have, so most of the crops have gone into extinction. And few others have been threatened.

[00:20:16]And government think that they have the whole knowledge.

[00:20:19]And when you come from that top-bottom approach, what the people does, "Oh, these are government people." They just sit by the side and become uh bystanders.

[00:20:30]But, when you involve them, they have the knowledge. They know how to protect the environment. They know how to enrich the soil without without recourse to chemical fertilizers. You know, so they have this knowledge. What we can do is to understudy it and see how we can, you know, modernize it if necessary in line with new ideas, new technology, but not to discard it. Let us go back and identify those indigenous crops that have been threatened or that are going to extinction. Let us begin to document our knowledge of agricultural practices.

[00:21:10]My PhD was on indigenous agricultural practices and I have some documentation.

[00:21:14]We visited some community to document because things are going to extinction today and there are no database. What happens in the next 50 years?

[00:21:25]Is it all about chemical mechanized agriculture and the rest of them? What of that up agriculture practice? Because our agriculture practice is part of our culture.

[00:21:36]And culture is our identity. And when we relegate our culture, we lose our identity. Today, the modern man goes into the bush and kill everything killable. They set fire on everything and destroy all the ecosystem. They They They Our forefathers never did that. So, indigenous knowledge should be integrated with modern science and not discarded because two of them can complement each other. Two of them can help in addressing issues of food insecurity. Today, look at the rate of hunger.

[00:22:11]Look at the rate of poverty.

[00:22:13]And when there's hunger and poverty, there's threat of increase in crimes and criminality. But when there's sufficiency in food, everybody will eat and be happy and there'll be a reduction in crimes and criminality and the society will be better. Look at the daily temperature. It's on the increase because of the rate of deforestation.

[00:22:37]Where are the trees? Where are our indigenous trees? They have mahoganies and the rest and strong trees. Today, we allowed the Chinese to harvest them.

[00:22:48]They are no longer there and government is looking By the way, you know, not concerned.

[00:22:54]It's not about today, it's about our future. When we destroy that which we have, there may be no future for us. Women and youth are usually the most impacted in this issue, but most often we find out that they're being left out of decision-making and all that.

[00:23:17]Is there any any way you think women and and youth can be included in these community-led restoration efforts?

[00:23:27]>> Sure. Sure. Women are good managers of resources.

[00:23:30]And women by data and statistics is smallholder farmer they are greater in number. There are women smallholder farmers producing larger portion of the food that we consume. But often times they're they're not part of the decision-making process.

[00:23:46]They are they don't have even access to land. You know? And the youth, they have the force, the the energy to also protect and conserve, but they're not part of the conversation.

[00:23:59]It's time and it's [clears throat] it's necessary that the women are empowered.

[00:24:02]And do you know what? When there is land degradation, the women are affected more than the men.

[00:24:08]And the youth also. And persons with disabilities. These are the people that are that have that bears the brunt much more. For that reason, in every conversation about conservation, about protecting the environment, the women and the youth should be at the front line. When we do that, we will have a sustainable management of our landscape.

[00:24:31]The land is an image of a woman. It's productive.

[00:24:35]It's protective.

[00:24:37]It's caring. So, women should be in the forefront. They should be part they should be incentive incentivized. They their capacity should be built. They should be part of the whole process and that is only way that whatever we are discussing will have fruit and become sustainable. If a local community successfully restores their land.

[00:24:58]How do we protect that progress? What policy changes or legal protection are urgently needed from the government to support and scale these grassroots victories? Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:11]Part of it is to include incentive in our in our policies. So, regions or communities that are protected their ecosystem, they should be um they should be recognized.

[00:25:27]It is very very because when you give them that recognition, it will it will motivate them and it will motivate even other communities to become involved.

[00:25:35]Let us take a database of communities that are in the frontline of environmental conservation and see how we can uh recognize them, how we can provide them with incentives, how we can make laws to continue to protect them so that what they have conserved is not destroyed in future. Thank you very much, Dr. Kilichukwu, for your time.

[00:26:01]Thank you.

[00:26:03]>> [music] >> Time now for Simplify This and we head to the market afterwards.

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[00:28:36]The Policy with Leha is available on our partner station, Kaftan TV, Global TV Nigeria, and KSMC News.

[00:28:46]See you again next week. Enjoy the rest of the day. God bless Nigeria.

[00:28:55]>> [music]