By Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The presidency has revealed that the Boko Haram insurgency which has entered the ninth year, has stalled or kept in abeyance most of the projects targeted at addressing desertification and drought in the northern part of the country.
The Director of Drought and Desertification, Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Mr. Ady Yusuf, made this known at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja.
According to him, “with the increasing insurgency especially in the northern part of Nigeria has affected the kind of work that will do. Some of our projects have either been suspended or kept in abeyance, waiting for the coming of the present administration and the loss in those insurgencies and with the new desire that we could break up some of our projects. We hope to go ahead and commence a lot of projects in the northern part of Nigeria.â€
Yusuf also added that both the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) and the Ecological Office are finding synergy to see how they could complement their work towards fighting desertification in the northern part of the country.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Dr. Habiba Lawal, said that there are about 1.1 trillion request data specifically for soil erosion and flood control presently before the EFO.
She revealed that the EFO office was directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out a comprehensive national survey of ecological zones, variations, scope and severity of sites across the country.
The permanent Secretary added that the survey updated the federal government data bank in all parts of the country, and was aimed at providing the government with a holistic, pragmatic and reliable source of information on ecological challenges in the country.
Lawal stated: “It would ensured an evidenced-based and strategic project selection and management process. About 2890 sites were visited during the exercise, carried out in three phases from August to December 2017.
“Since the inception of thus administration in May 2015, 88 projects were awarded, 45 have been completed and 43 are still on-going. About 90 per cent are on soil erosion because of the prevalence.â€
The permanent secretary stressed that while the federal government continues to judiciously deploy its share of ecological fund to problems across the country, it is hope that States and local government would demonstrately apply their own shares rather than relying on the federal government.
She emphasised that if the entire problem were left to the federal government alone, much less impact would ensue overall due to the extent and severity of the ecological problems across the country.
According to Lawal, “presently, we have 1.1 trillion request data specifically for soil erosion and flood control. That does not include drought, desertification and coastal zone management, nor does it include pollution control. But I can I tell you the largest chunk of our work is soil erosion and soil control. Of all the 88 projects that are ongoing, almost 90 per cent of them are soil erosion and flood control. That is not to say that we dont have issue with flood control but because of the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) and they are actually doing something similar to that, so we stopped. We are just seeking approval now which have been endorsed that we can also continue the work on desertification and drought.
“Our greatest challenge is the dearth of funds. The country is faced with a lot of ecological issues with meager funds to tackle them. Regrettably, what we notice that while one is being solved another one is being created. The total available fund is between is N12 billion and N15 billion per quarter. If you have a request of 1 trillion, do you have fund? Lawal queried.
