The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) says it has planted 616 trees across Northern Nigeria since launching its campaign to plant one million trees on September 2, 2026.
The organisation disclosed this on Wednesday during a media briefing on the progress of its One Million Trees Campaign.
CITAD said 345 of the 616 trees planted so far had been verified as planted and living, while the remaining trees were awaiting verification.
The campaign, implemented through CITAD’s Environmental Concerns Committee, aims to raise public awareness about tree planting, protect endangered indigenous trees and combat climate change through the restoration and regeneration of forests and green spaces.
Speaking during the briefing, CITAD’s Senior Programmes Officer for Climate Change, Research and ICT, Muhammad Sani Khamees, said the campaign had recorded encouraging progress despite challenges.
“A total of 616 trees have been planted since the launch of the campaign on 2nd September 2026, marking a solid start to our journey towards the one million target,” Khamees said.
“Of these planted trees, 345 have been verified as planted and are living. The rest are yet to be verified.”
CITAD said it had also launched the p1mt.ng platform to promote transparency and accountability in the campaign.
According to the organisation, the platform enables planted trees to be uploaded, verified and officially recorded, while GPS tracking is used to monitor the location and survival of individual trees.
Khamees said the system was designed to strengthen monitoring, reporting and verification of the trees and ensure proper post-planting care.
“The platform integrates GPS tracking for every planted tree, enabling robust Monitoring, Reporting and Verification to ensure survival rates and sustained post-planting care across all intervention sites,” he said.
CITAD said it had established partnerships with government agencies in Kano, Jigawa and Bauchi states as part of efforts to expand the campaign.
In Kano, the organisation said it had engaged the Ministry of Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, while the Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board and the State Science and Technical Schools Board were already supporting its school tree-planting component.
The organisation also disclosed that the Kano State Government had initially provided 780 seedlings of different tree species and subsequently supplied additional seedlings.
In Jigawa, CITAD said it had secured the partnership of the state Ministry of Environment, while in Bauchi, it had established a strategic partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Housing.
The campaign has also partnered with media organisations, including Premier Radio and Arewa Radio in Kano, Freedom Radio in Jigawa and Albarka Radio in Bauchi.
CITAD said the media partnerships had enabled it to conduct radio programmes aimed at educating communities about the importance of tree planting and encouraging public participation.
“These programmes have helped us deliver our message directly to communities across the region, explaining the campaign’s objectives and encouraging public participation,” the organisation said.
It added that it had commenced a weekly interactive radio programme with Albarka Radio in Bauchi, while one-hour discussions on the campaign had been held on Guarantee Radio and Premier Radio in Kano.
CITAD also said it was using Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp to mobilise volunteers, share information and encourage citizens to plant and protect trees.
To address the growing demand for seedlings, the organisation said it had established four nurseries—two in Kano, one in Dutse, Jigawa State, and another in Jama’are, Bauchi State.
According to CITAD, the nurseries are primarily raising indigenous tree species.
However, the organisation identified inadequate seedlings as one of the major challenges confronting the campaign.
“The most pressing challenge we face is an inadequate supply of tree seedlings,” Khamees said.
“The volume of requests received from the public far exceeds our current seedling stock, limiting our ability to meet demand and slowing the pace at which we can expand the campaign.”
CITAD also expressed concern over what it described as misunderstandings about the campaign’s reporting system.
It said some individuals had uploaded photographs of already-grown trees or multiple seedlings and claimed they had planted them.
The organisation said such submissions were rejected and excluded from the official number of trees planted, although they remained visible in the platform’s gallery.
CITAD further called for more volunteers to help verify trees reported as planted and monitor their health and survival.
The organisation said 129 volunteers had so far registered, but the volunteer verification mechanism had not yet been activated.
“The volunteers will help us monitor and know the health status of the planted trees. This will help us to know at any given time how many of the planted trees are surviving or not,” Khamees said.
CITAD appealed to governments across Northern Nigeria, development partners, environmental organisations, philanthropists and individuals to support the campaign with seedlings, funding and materials for protecting newly planted trees.
“We call on governments across northern Nigeria to join the campaign through both seedling donation and citizen mobilisation, as well as support for the care of planted trees,” it said.
The organisation also urged businesses involved in seedling production and other well-meaning individuals to donate seedlings.
“We call on development partners, climate and environment-focused organisations, and agencies to join the partnership of the campaign so that together we can re-green the North,” Khamees said.
