14 Focal States Get $500m Erosion Control Assistance in Nigeria
FeaturedNigeria July 29, 2015 Dianabasi Effiong
From: Diana Okon-Effiong, CalabarThe Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) says 14 states including Cross River are currently benefiting from about N12 billion World Bank scheme to contain the spread of gully erosion in their domain.
Mr Salisu Dahiru, National Project Coordinator, NEWMAP, said this in Calabar at the opening of a five-day workshop for Non-Governmental Organisations, communication and livelihood officers organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment in conjunction with the World Bank and other partners in the implementation of Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project.
Dahiru said that 21 badly affected gully erosion sites identified in Nigeria were currently being addressed, adding that that Cross River alone has five gully erosion sites which is the highest.
“No less than $500m had been earmarked to tackle the 21 gully erosion sites out of which $480m has been devoted for remediation of the gully sites. At the initial stage, NEWMAP had targeted to work with seven states but the Federal Government recently approved seven others where gully erosion had also reached alarming stage.
“Apart from Cross River, the other states are Abia, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Gombe, Kogi, Kano, Delta, Oyo and Sokoto.The entire budget has $500m meant for addressing erosion projects in the country.Over $480m is devoted solely for the remediation work in the sites and all of these funds are going to be disbursed by the states,” he said.
He said that findings had shown that the vast cases of land degradation that had developed into full blown gully erosion sites were caused by human activities through the wrong dumping of waste products.
“The entire country is overwhelmed with thousands of gully erosion sites.This is because in the last 20 or 30 years, we have not had the opportunity of addressing this problem and that is what NEWMAP is addressing,” he said.
According to him gully erosion sites have been threatening infrastructure and the livelihood of the communities living in a number of states, particularly in the south east Geo-political zone.
He said: “Attempts have been made to address these problems and it involves huge amount of money. The government of Nigeria had to approach the World Bank for support to arrest the issues.”
Dianabasi Effiong
