Nigeria, Sept. 13 -- Nigeria's bid to gradually reverse the impact of climate change by planting millions of trees has suffered a major setback after a government-funded afforestation programme worth over N30 million failed less than three years after the project was completed, PREMIUM TIMES has found.

The government said it spent N30.4 million from its historic Green Bond initiative to plant six million trees in Oyo State, but PREMIUM TIMES found just a few hundreds of trees during a recent visit.

Officials said the trees died as a result of drought and other factors and that remedial efforts were underway. But the finding has alarmed environmental activists and ecological experts who questioned the planning and execution of the projec...