CITAD plants 616 trees in Northern Nigeria, seeks more seedlings

The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) says it has planted 616 trees across Northern Nigeria since launching its one-million-tree campaign on September 2, 2026.

The organisation disclosed this on Wednesday during its first media briefing on the progress of the campaign, signed by its Senior Programmes Officer for Climate Change, Research and ICT, Muhammad Sani Khamees.

CITAD said 345 of the 616 trees planted so far had been verified as planted and were living, while the remaining trees were awaiting verification.

The organisation said the campaign aims to raise public awareness on tree planting, protect and regenerate endangered indigenous trees, combat climate change through the restoration of green areas and forests, and mobilise citizens and communities against environmental degradation.

To promote transparency and monitoring, CITAD said it had launched the p1mt.ng platform, through which planted trees are uploaded, verified and recorded using GPS tracking.

It said the platform would support monitoring, reporting and verification of planted trees, including their survival and post-planting care.

The organisation also disclosed that it had secured partnerships with government agencies in Kano, Jigawa and Bauchi states as part of efforts to expand the campaign.

According to CITAD, the Kano State Ministry of Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change had initially supplied 780 seedlings of different tree species and later provided additional seedlings.

It added that the Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board and the State Science and Technical Schools Board were also supporting the school tree-planting component.

In Jigawa, CITAD said the state Ministry of Environment had agreed to support the campaign through grassroots mobilisation and access to forestry networks, while the Bauchi State Ministry of Environment and Housing had also joined the initiative.

The organisation said it had established four seedling nurseries—two in Kano, one in Dutse, Jigawa State, and another in Jama’are, Bauchi State—to address the growing demand for seedlings.

However, CITAD identified inadequate seedlings as its major challenge, saying requests from members of the public had exceeded its available stock.

It also said some people had uploaded photographs of already-grown trees or groups of seedlings as evidence of tree planting.

CITAD said such submissions were rejected and were not included in the official number of trees planted, although they remained visible in the platform’s gallery.

The organisation further said it had received 129 applications from volunteers who would be responsible for verifying trees planted by participants and monitoring their survival.

It explained that the platform records three separate indicators: reported trees planted, verified trees and living trees.

CITAD said the volunteer verification mechanism had not yet been activated, leaving many reported trees unverified, with staff currently handling the verification process.

The organisation called on governments across Northern Nigeria, development partners, philanthropists, private seedling suppliers and members of the public to support the campaign with seedlings, funding and materials for protecting newly planted trees.

It also urged media organisations and citizens to continue using radio and social media platforms to promote the campaign and encourage communities to plant and protect trees.

CITAD said it remained committed to achieving its target of planting one million trees across Northern Nigeria and would continue to provide updates on the campaign’s progress.