Edo State Government has said that it has planted over 5,000 trees in most parts of the state to boost a clean and green environment.
Disclosing in a chat with journalists in Benin City on Wednesday, the Managing Director, Edo State Parks and Gardens Agency, Pastor Stanley Ighodaro, stated that the agency had established a tree nursery to reduce the cost of buying from vendors.
He added that tree planting advocacy clubs had also been established in schools to preach the essence of a clean and green environment among pupils and students.
According to him, “When Governor Monday Okpebholo appointed me, he gave me a mandate to ensure beautification of the state, knowing fully well that our environment is important to our health.
“I realise that in most parts of the state, especially in the city centres, there is a lack of trees. There are some areas where you can create a very good ambience where people can go and relax; most of them were lacking.
“We have created more than two schools, what we call nurseries, knowing that we can’t keep going around to source for plants or buy plants from vendors.
“We also want to launch what we call the Early Greenery Club, which would educate the children in schools, in secondary schools, to understand the need for a clean environment and the need for planting trees in the environment.
“This we can do in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, and so far, we now have some plants readily available to deploy whenever we want to work in a particular location.
“This year alone, we have planted well over 5,000 trees and we are looking forward to doing much more.”
Ighodaro said the Agency would also be planting some trees in Benin City and Ekpoma, the headquarters of Esan West Local Government Area, later in the week, and the plants would be sourced from the nursery plant.
He said the agency was also partnering with the private sector, like banks and private companies, to support tree planting in the state.