By Tony Nezianya :
Awka, July 23, 2020 (MOI) Coordinator of Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) in Anambra, Mr Mike Ivenso says the cause of erosion is both natural and man-made.This is a result of study of a study carried out by NEWMAP and by the World Bank as part of a justification for establishment of Newmap.’’
Ivenso said this at the “Meet The Press’’, a forum created by the Governor’s Media Group (GMG) to track the Governor’s Years.It was evident after the study that Anambra was identified as `Nigeria’s capital for erosion menace’.
It is in a bid to seek lasting solutions to the menace that led to some stakeholders, the then Government of Anambra under Mr Peter Obi and the Federal Government to jointly approach the World Bank, a funding agency, to form NEWMAP.The Agency, therefore, owed its formation to a tripartite arrangement – Federal, Anambra State and World Bank.
However, other South Eastern States — Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, Abia, Cross Rivers and Edo have since joined the project. The headquarters is domiciled in Anambra.
According to Ivenso, gully erosion in Anambra State and most of South Eastern Nigeria was attributable to broken drainages; drainages that have either failed or terminated abruptly as part of a construction process.
Those drainages serve as funnels for channeling storm water directly into parcels of land and it is its concentration that causes damages to the environment.
So, 99 per cent of erosion is actually man-made. It is so because our study of the soil here shows that it is alluvial and most likely to break when it comes in contact with moisture; so we have both natural and man-made. But the human aspect of it is far greater, this is why we have been asking people to stop building indiscriminately and not dump refuse in our drainages.
“Now it is worthy to mention that this administration has set up a Task force, responsible for reviewing all the design for new projects, which will ensure that proper environmental impact assessment is carried out ahead of project development.
“If you are building drainage, such drainage is properly terminated in natural body of water, where it no longer becomes a problem.’’
