Photo credit: treeplantingholidays.com

Prospects of Great Green Wall initiative

BY MOSHOOD ISAH

EXCERPT

Great Green Wall : Workers water the Widu tree nursery in Senegal Louga region in 2012 – http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h–/q-95/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2012/7/12/1342102638249/Great-Green-Wall—Worker-008.jpg

In a bid to further improve Agriculture and increase envi­ronmental sustainability, Presi­dent Goodluck Jonathan has ap­proved the upgrade of the Great Green Wall Programme imple­mentation Unit (GGW/PIU) to become an independent agency. The GGW/PIU now known as National Agency on Great Green Wall (NAGGW) was endorsed by the administration to urgently and holistically address the chal­lenges bedevilling desertification in the Northern parts of Nigeria.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Alhaji Goni Ahmed, who disclosed the new develop­ment, added that the President saw the need to upgrade the unit because of his belief and passion in environmental protection.

Interestingly some develop­ment partners have shown inter­est in the project with World Bank leading the pack. A leader of World…

By Patrick Mulroe –

In the last eighteen months, the Irish border has been the focus of a great deal of comment but there remains little depth to much of the analysis of the area’s history. During the conflict, the border was a key sphere for IRA operations. Operation Banner, the official British Army account of the troubles, claimed that by the mid-1980s, the IRA was organised into sixteen Active Service Units of which ten were based south of the Border.[1] One border area stood out in terms of importance. South Armagh was a hub of paramilitary activity; indeed, by 1978, of the fifty-eight serious border incidents, forty-one took place in South Armagh.[2]  Even now, this area features in media reports almost always accompanied by the unfortunate “Bandit Country” moniker.

The best-known work on South Armagh is journalist Toby Harnden’s Bandit Country. In this influential and widely…