Launch of the Katsina One Tree initiative (KT1T)

Assalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu.

I thank the people of Rimi and the host community of Ladanawa for welcoming us. Today we do not launch a ceremony. We launch a movement.

In 2023 we promised you a government that would protect your land and build your future. The Katsina-One-Tree Initiative is that promise made real.

Our target is clear: 11 million trees by 2030, beginning with two million trees in 2026, across all 34 Local Government Areas and 6,652 Climate Intervention Areas.

Our message is simpler still: One Person. One Tree. One Responsibility.

But hear me well. A seedling distributed is an opportunity. A tree that survives is an achievement. We will not count ceremonies. We will count living trees.

This administration has invested in education, in healthcare, in agriculture and in infrastructure. I am proud of that work. But I say to you today: protecting our environment may be the most critical task ahead of us. Without it, every other investment is at risk.

When the desert advances, it does not take the land of the rich first. It takes the farm of the poor widow. When floods come, they wash away the mud house, not the mansion. When the rains fail, it is the smallholder farmer who loses his harvest, the herder who loses his cattle, and the family that can no longer afford a meal.

Climate risk is a poverty issue. It drives up food prices, empties granaries, fuels conflict over land and water, and pushes young people out of our villages.

That is why I make this pledge: this government will not allow environmental degradation to destroy our agriculture or our food security. Trees shield our farms from wind, hold our soil, restore fertility and provide fodder, fruit and income. KT1T is a significant step towards a food-secure Katsina.

Katsina has already shown the nation what climate leadership looks like.

We approved a State Climate Change Policy, established a Climate Change Council, and now tag climate spending in every ministry, department, agency and Local Government Council.

Earlier this month, Katsina State was ranked first among all 36 states in the 2025 Sub-national Climate Governance Performance Ranking. Last year, the Forestry Association of Nigeria named this administration a Champion of Green Governance. These honours belong to the people of Katsina.

Through the ACReSAL programme, with the World Bank and the Federal Government, we have invested in storm-water drainage in Katsina metropolis and river-bank protection in Jibia. Communities that once counted their losses after every rainy season are now safer. ACReSAL's national review has cited Katsina for floods averted.

And we have learned a lesson: never again will we build first and plan for disaster later.

Disaster risk management is now embedded in every project this government undertakes.

We know tree planting works, because others have done it.

Across our border in Niger Republic, in Maradi and Zinder, farmers protected and regrew the trees on their own farms. Millions of hectares turned green again, and harvests improved.

In Kenya, the Green Belt Movement, started by women in villages, planted tens of millions of trees. In Ethiopia, citizens planted hundreds of millions of seedlings in a single day.

And here at home, our Great Green Wall frontline communities and our own green belt projects have shown that where communities take ownership, trees survive.

The lesson is the same everywhere: governments can start a campaign, but only people can sustain it.

KT1T is built from the State down to the ward: a Central Steering Committee, three Zonal Monitoring Committees for Katsina, Daura and Funtua, Local Government Supervisory Committees, and Ward Implementation Committees in every community.

Through Community-Based Tree Care, our elders will lend their authority and our youth their energy, to water, protect, monitor and replace. Women, farmers, pastoralists and traditional institutions all have a role.

Our forestry officers, extension workers and Climate Desk Officers will ensure the right species are planted in the right places, at the right time, and properly cared for.

Let me be clear on integrity. Registration must be fair. Records must be accurate. Every naira must be accounted for. Committees must deliver results, not exist on paper. Anyone who manipulates this programme betrays our children.

Today I announce that KT1T will reach beyond our communities into every public institution.

• Our schools. Each of the over 3,800 schools in Katsina State will be encouraged to run its own tree-planting campaign and to make environmental protection a regular subject of discussion. Let every pupil plant a tree and watch it grow with them.
• Our health facilities. Every hospital and primary health centre will be encouraged to plant trees, because a greener environment is a healthier one.
• Our government institutions. Every ministry, department, agency and Local Government secretariat will be encouraged to plant and maintain trees on its premises.
• The wider public. Plant a tree in your compound, your farm, your mosque or your market. If you cannot plant, support the foundations and organisations that do.

I thank the NGOs and civil society organisations already planting trees across Katsina. You started before us, and we honour you. I invite many more partners, local and international, to join us in this fight against climate change.

There is no point planting trees by day if we cut them down by night for firewood.

The harmattan is approaching. The nights will be cold, and many will reach for wood to warm their homes and cook their meals. I appeal to you: reduce your use of firewood and charcoal. Every tree cut for fuel is a shield removed from our farms.

Firewood smoke also harms our mothers and children in the kitchen, damaging their lungs and their health.

I urge every household to embrace clean cooking: gas, improved cookstoves and other clean technologies. This government is working with partners to make clean cooking more affordable and available, and we will say more on this in the coming months.

My dear people, permit me to speak to you not only as your Governor, but as a father and a grandfather.

One day our children will ask what we did when the desert was at our door and the floods were in our homes. I want us to be able to answer: we planted, we protected, and we did not give up.

We inherited this land from our parents, but we are borrowing it from our children. Let us return it greener than we found it.

To our royal fathers and religious leaders, carry this message to every household. To our youth, this is your future; take hold of it. To every citizen: plant with purpose, nurture with commitment, and protect with responsibility.

It is therefore my honour to declare the Katsina-One-Tree Initiative officially launched across all 34 Local Government Areas of Katsina State.

One Person. One Tree. One Responsibility.

May Allah bless our efforts, and may Katsina grow greener, stronger and more prosperous.

Wassalamu Alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu.