The NNPC Exploration and Production Limited/Seplat Energy Joint Venture and the Edo State Government have signed an agreement that will see the state government allocate 6,000 hectares of land from its protected forest reserves for tree planting initiative by the company.

Seplat, in a statement on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, said the agreement signing was the company’s Tree4Life Initiative and the Edo State Government’s identification of the need to increase forest cover and carbon sequestration efforts within the region.

Seplat noted that the company has been selected as the partner to implement this reforestation project which aims to plant millions of indigenous trees on the allocated land over the next five years.

Speaking at the agreement signing ceremony at Edo State Government House in Benin, the Managing Director, Seplat West Limited, Seplat Energy, Ayodele Olatunde, said the partnership will contribute to the global efforts around mitigating the effects of climate change while providing economic, social, health, and other environmental benefits to the region.

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Olatunde said: “This will stir more advocacy as far as climate change is concerned and put the Edo State Government with the Seplat JV on the map as change agents.

“The partnership is well aligned with our Tree4Life Initiative and has the capacity to boost our economy and the environment, advance our soil health and drive carbon capture, preserve our ecosystem, enhance biodiversity, create jobs, conserve our forests, and promote physical and mental wellbeing of our people.”

On his part, the Edo State Commissioner for Environment and Sustainability, Joshua Omokhodion, described the synergy between the state government and the Seplat as a huge attempt at mitigating the impacts of climate change in Nigeria.

“Beyond the economics of this move, the science of it is very important to us because it is an attempt to deliberately create an ambience that will be conducive for humans and other creatures here,” the commissioner noted.

The Star