Nigeria’s economy stands at a crossroads. With growth projections slowing, fiscal pressures rising, and climate shocks compounding development challenges, the search for new growth drivers is urgent. One of the least exploited but highest-potential levers is also the greenest: reforestation. The “green dividend”, the returns in economic, social and financial terms from restoring tree cover, is real, and Nigeria should be rising to claim it.
Reforestation: An investment, not a concession
Too often, tree planting is relegated to the fringes of environmental policy, seen as a public good with limited payback. That view is stale. Thoughtfully designed forest restoration, whether via natural regrowth, agroforestry systems, or mixed plantation models, can deliver tangible benefits to governments, communities, businesses, and individual households.
The concept is simple: trees sequester carbon, stabilise soils, regulate water cycles, enhance biodiversity, and moderate microclimates. But beyond these ecological services lies the value chain of jobs, incomes, resilience, health, and fiscal savings. Studies have shown that increasing tree cover in low-income settings can raise per capita incomes by as much as between N300,000 and N800,000 annually.
In West Africa, where land degradation undermines agricultural productivity, restoring forests can complement farming productivity. In Nigeria, especially, restoration correlates with improved dietary diversity. Households in regions where natural forest regrowth occurred have been shown to consume more fruits and vegetables and to show modest but measurable gains in living standards. Especially in rural areas, non-timber forest products (NTFPs), which include fruits, medicinal plants, fuelwood, and fibres, can become resilient income sources for households.
Economic benefits at scale
From a macro perspective, reforestation and afforestation programmes bring multiple dividends:
-Carbon finance & climate markets: As global carbon trading and voluntary markets mature, Nigeria can monetise carbon credits from forest restoration. This can inject foreign exchange into public accounts and catalyse private sector investment.
-Job creation: Every stage (nursery establishment, planting, maintenance, monitoring) is labour-intensive. Estimates suggest that every million dollars invested in green infrastructure can create around 24 year-round living-wage jobs.
-Agricultural resilience: Trees in agroforestry mosaics improve soil fertility, reduce erosion, and buffer crop yields against extreme weather. One study noted that integrating trees and crops yields comparable climate benefits while diversifying incomes.
-Tourism, ecosystem services, land value uplift: Healthy forests attract ecotourism, boost real estate values near green corridors, and reduce costs associated with flooding and storm damage.
-Health and productivity: Cleaner air, lower heat stress, and fewer respiratory illnesses translate into reduced health expenditures and higher worker productivity. Trees act as natural filters of pollutants and offer cooling in urban environments.
For Nigeria, which continues to struggle with degraded land, desertification in the north, and weak public finances, those are not fringe effects; they are strategic levers.
Social and individual returns
At the community and household levels, the green dividend is felt in several ways:
A. Poverty reduction & income diversification: Forest restoration offers alternative income streams, reducing dependence on single crops or extractive practices. This is especially powerful for women, youth, and smallholders.
B. Nutritional gains: As noted earlier, regrowth areas boost access to wild fruits, vegetables and other micronutrient-rich foods, helping to reduce malnutrition.
C. Social cohesion & culture: Community planting programmes can strengthen local identity, instil environmental stewardship, and bridge generational ties around common purpose.
D. Resilience to shocks: Forest cover buffers erosion, reduces flood risk, stabilises water tables, and acts as a safety net in times of climate stress.
In Nigeria, though reforestation efforts have often faltered due to tree mortality, land tenure disputes, and funding gaps, the upside remains compelling if those challenges are proactively addressed.
Constraints and the path forward
To unlock Nigeria’s green dividend, some structural hurdles must be surmounted:
-Property rights & land tenure clarity: Many rural communities lack formal title to the land they farm or restore. Without clear tenure, incentives for long-term tree care falter.
-Species choice and ecological appropriateness: Monoculture plantations (e.g., fast-growing exotics) may lock in risks. Policy should favour native and mixed species, plus natural regrowth, to maximise co-benefits.
-Mortality and maintenance: Globally and in Nigeria, the failure rate of planted trees is high unless sustained aftercare is assured. That means financing beyond planting — irrigation, weeding, and community engagement.
-Finance and incentives: The public purse cannot shoulder large reforestation alone. Nigeria needs pro-green fiscal instruments, payment-for-ecosystem-services frameworks, carbon offsets, and blended finance vehicles.
-Monitoring, safeguards and governance: Transparent tracking, community participation and safeguards against land grabs or perverse incentives are essential.
Policy levers and business engagement
To scale impact, Nigeria must translate green ambition into actionable policy:
1. National reforestation strategy with clear targets, budgets and accountability frameworks. The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) is one such institution, already tasked with land restoration in the Sahel belt.
2. Incentive schemes: Tax credits and subsidies for private afforestation, payments to communities for ecosystem services, and carbon credit frameworks aligned with global standards.
3. Public-private partnerships: Encourage forest restoration as business opportunities for firms in carbon, timber, ecotourism, and green infrastructure. A win-win: profit with purpose.
4. Capacity building and community engagement: Training local youth in nursery management, engaging traditional authorities, and ensuring inclusion of women and marginal groups.
5. Integration into agricultural and land use planning: The green dividend must not compete with food production but complement it—through agroforestry, riparian buffers, and contour plantings.
6. Rigorous monitoring & evaluation: Satellite tools, community audits, and impact reporting must ensure that promised dividends are real and equitable.
A concluding call
Nigeria’s pursuit of development must now walk hand in hand with regeneration. The green dividend is not a utopian dream but a multi-dimensional return on investment: stronger growth, more resilient communities, healthier citizens, and new revenue streams.
To neglect the forest’s potential is to limit Nigeria’s future. As the world increasingly values carbon, climate resilience, and bundled environmental goods, Nigeria can position itself not as a laggard but as a leader in Africa’s green economy.
The ongoing Seplat Tree4Life reforestation project in Edo State is proof that large-scale, successful reforestation projects designed for carbon credits and sequestration can indeed be implemented in Nigeria. It is a showpiece of what is possible when ambition, science, and corporate responsibility converge. The challenge, and the opportunity, is for other large corporations to follow Seplat’s example and commit to similar bold initiatives.
For governments, communities, businesses and individuals alike, investing in trees is not charity; it is calculus. The time to cultivate the green dividend is now.
Sarah Esangbedo Ajose-Adeogun is the Founder and Managing Partner at Teasoo Consulting Limited, a foremost ESG consulting firm. She is a former Community Content Manager at Shell Petroleum Development Company and served as the Special Adviser on Strategy, Policy, Projects, and Performance Management to the Government of Edo State. She is also the host of the #SarahSpeaks podcast on YouTube @WinningBigWithSarah, where she shares insights on leadership, strategy, and sustainable growth.
