Anambra Erosion: W’Bank Boosts FG’s Efforts With $500m

As UN Pledges Assistance to
States Affected by Flood
By Onyebuchi Ezigbo and Matthew
Onah
UN Under Secretary-General for
Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency
Relief Coordinator, Baroness Valerie
Amos
The Federal Government said it had
received World Bank’s commitment
of $500 million to support its efforts
at addressing the erosion menace in
two communities in Anambra State.
The affected communities are Nanka
and Agulu where the problem is fast
degenerating into full scale land
slide.
The World Bank support is coming
as the United Nations also pledged
to provide technical expertise for
states ravaged by last year’s
devastating flood, to enable them
manage future occurrence. The
United Nations Under Secretary-
General for Humanitarian Affairs and
Emergency Relief Coordinator,
Baroness Valerie Amos, who stated
this in Lokoja , Kogi State, at the
start of a two day working visit to
four states affected by flood in
Nigeria, described the flood that
devastated nine Local Government
Areas of Kogi State last year as
unfortunate, saying her visit was to
seek ways of granting technical
assistance to the state to help
rebuild lives and damaged
infrastructures.
Baroness Amos, who assured of
partnership with the Federal and
State Government s to bring
differences in the lives of the people
whose lively hood were badly
affected by the flood, described
water as life but said the 2012 flood
disaster was a threat to life,
occasioned by the impact of climate
change. The flood disaster, the UN
envoy noted , calls for better ways
for the UN to improve early warning
preparation and response to future
flood disasters.
The technical expertise to be
provided by the UN , the Under
Secretary disclosed, will include
building infrastructures and
managing displaced persons’ camp
for future floods. She explained that
her team was billed to visit Kogi,
Delta, Anambra and Bayelsa States
that were devastated  by the flood to
assess post flood impact and see
how possible best the UN  will assist
these states.
Speaking during the Ministerial
Media Platform in Abuja organised
by the Ministry of Information on
Friday, the Minister of Environment,
Mrs. Hadiza Ibrahim Mailafia, said as
part of Federal Government’s
preparedness against this year’s
predicted flood, the Ministry has
deployed about 500 Flood Early
Warning Systems (FEWS) in different
locations in the country.
Mailafia, who lamented that erosion
cases have posed serious threat to
the people living the affected areas
in the South East, said due to the
gravity of the erosion menace, the
World Bank’s support was enlisted
by government in order to
adequately tackle the situation and
to bring succor to the people.
She said as a result, the World Bank
has granted a $500million for
addressing the the Nanka and Agulu
erosion sites in Anambra State.
On the whole, she said the ministry
has successfully worked on 64
erosion sites, while some had been
completed, with others still in
progress.
On the plan by Federal Government
to try and avert any disaster similar
to that of last years massive
flooding, Mailafia said a total of 307
web-based flood early warning
systems and 15 community-based
flood early warning systems have
been established in Ondo, Niger,
Cross River, Imo, Anambra, Lagos,
Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Nasarawa,
Riverss, Kwara, Akwa Ibom, Abia
and Enugu States.
Mailafia whose presentation came
as part of the Federal Government’s
Mid-Term Performance Scorecard,
said the ministry has recorded giant
strides in the efforts to tackle
environmental degradation caused
by erosion, desertification, pollution
and hazards from illegal mining.
She said Government will not
hesitate to impose stricter penalties
on anyone who undermines the
country’s environmental legislation,
especially oil companies involved in
oil spillage.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.10