Youths to make history, trek to Mali from Abuja

By: Greg Odogwu journalist with The Garki Gazette, Abuja, Nigeria #WalktoMali 

Mamadou Edrisa Njie interview with Greg Odogwu Abuja, Nigeria

Some West African youths are set to make history as they embark on a two months long walk to Mali and back, covering about 3,500 kilometres, from the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Saturday, 18th January.

The GARKI GAZETTE gathered that the youths are made up of about twelve youth activists from seven West African countries of Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin; they will traverse the cold-by-the-night and hot-by-the-day climate of sub-Saharan Africa in their quest to attract the world’s attention to the poverty ravaging the communities they would visit along the route.

This journey is under the auspices of Earth Hour, an environmental initiative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) kick-started in 2007 to draw the world’s attention to the menace of global warming and encourage global citizens to take definite action to stem the menace.

Zamfara flood affected community seeks assistance to relocate site

Etta Michael Bisong reporting from Gusau with Earth Hour Nigeria #WalktoMali

Gutsura, a local village in Zamfara state northwest, Nigeria affected by the flood that divided most parts of the country has appealed to the government for monetary assistance to enable the habitants build resilience and adaptation strategies to mitigate climate change impact.
 

Due to the increasing water level of the upper Niger River, the small agricultural dependent community has witness unprecedented flood over the past ten years and continue to threaten the people's primary source of livelihood.

After several attempts to approach the government for assistance to combat this environmental epidemic that threatens the peaceful co-existence of the villagers, ''Only this year that the government accepted and gave us new site,'' the Nasarawa Gutsura, Alhaji Umaru Nasarawa told Blueprint reporter when the #WalktoMali team visited the community to map and assess the flood impact.

''Our immediate need now is accessing fund to move to the new site, because raining seasoning is coming,'' Alhaji Nasarawa lamented.