Chime lauds Jonathan of erosion control, urges more support for Enugu

By Chinenye Chinwe

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu State has commended President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the World Bank in their efforts towards
the control of erosions menace in the South East zone.

The Governor made the commendation through his deputy, Rev. Raphael
Ifeanyichukwu Nwoye in an address during a state launch of the Nigeria
Erosion and watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) at Michael Okpala
Square in Enugu.

Governor Chime said that all efforts made by the State and Local
government area as well as constituencies to control gully erosion,
before now, were at best partially or temporarily effective for
reasons that included improper road designs, inadequate drainage
systems and poor solid waste management in Urban and semi-Urban areas.

Others, he said, are destructive and unsustainable land use practices
that remove protective vegetation cover, over grazing, deforestation,
cultivation of marginal lands and uncontrolled mining for building
materials and climate change challenges.

The Governor regretted that the menace of gully erosion has led to
damage of infrastructural project such as several roads, highways,
reservoirs and pipeline networks as well as natural assets like
productive farm and forest

Noting that Enugu State has the greatest number of erosion sites in
Nigeria while Anambra state has the worst erosion sites, he however
expressed confidence that NEWMAP and World Bank would help state in
tackling the erosion menace as was done in China, Brazil and Israel.

Earlier in his address the Project coordinator NEWMAP Enugu, Engineer
Simeon Nwankwo expressed delight that as one of the south Eastern
states of Nigeria on whose erosion challenges brought about the birth
of NEWMAP, Enugu state under Governor Chime had embraced the project
promptly.

Engr. Nwankwo said that Enugu State has fulfilled the first conditions
given by the World Bank for the state to participate by paying  the
required initial counterpart fund of N60,000,000 (sixty million Naira)
in 2013.

He said that the Governor also approved the sum of (N200,000,000) Two
hundred million Naira this year as further contribution to the
counterpart requirements and assured the people of Enugu State that he
would not disappoint them.

In his remark, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria Africa
Region Marie Francoise Marie Nelly represented by Dr Amos Abu thanked
Governor Chime for making the take off of the project possible.

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