Godswill Akpabio, who is President of the Senate, has asked the Federal Government to use the ecology fund to deal with life-threatening environmental problems.
Akpabio advised them on Thursday, when Malam Ibrahim Shehu Ibrahim, the Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Project Office, led staff from his office to a meeting with the Senate leadership.
Akpabio was responding to the permanent secretary’s submission, in which he said that the monthly N3 billion given to his office is way too little to handle the requests it gets every day.
Ibrahim informed the Senate’s leaders that the organization had received more than 5,000 requests for immediate assistance from communities all over the nation that had suffered damage due to disasters.
In his answer, Akpabio asked the agency to make its actions more important.
He used the examples of the ocean surge that is currently destroying five southern Nigerian states and the Lake Chad basin’s huge desert growth as examples.
In his speech, Akpabio promised that the Senate would pass the laws that would help the Environmental Office do its job well.
He stated, “The way you step in and choose projects must be such that they will add urgency to data that is not ordinarily used.”
“The Ecological Office should take care of the most important issues that could have a direct impact on people’s lives before moving on to issues that might not have such an impact.” The ones that might kill you should be chosen first.
Also, Akpabio told the office to learn how to stop natural disasters before they happen.
He especially asked the agency to start activities that would get people in Nigeria to plant one tree every year.
He said that the fact that the desert was spreading in the north of the country showed that the agency didn’t realise how bad the damage was.
“Every child should be told to plant at least one tree every year,” he said. People should be pushed to plant one tree every month in places where deserts are getting worse.
“Because of Nigeria’s large population, that would help us get back a lot of land to prepare for the disaster that is coming.” Because of the same change in temperature, the Lake Chad basin is now only a small fraction of its original size. Ten years ago, it had 125 square kilometres of water.
“This causes people to move; those who used to make a living from Lake Chad now have to move south.” So small is the lake now that we don’t know if it still has up to 15 square kilometres of water in it. This affects about five countries right now.
The head of the Senate said the situation was a big issue that was making Nigeria’s security problems worse.
He said, “Herders who used to take their animals to the Lake Chad basin to graze and drink had to return to the south.”
“Along the way, they go through farmlands, and the farmers would fight to keep their crops from being destroyed.” Because of this change, the herders had to get guns to protect their cows from being killed.
Akpabio said, “So, your suggestion that you might need international support, sponsorship, and maybe even help from international organisations hits home for me. That’s why I was recently elected to the executive committee of the inter-parliamentary union.”
“I found that that organisation has a budget of about 30 billion dollars for getting involved in countries’ environmental and climate change issues through parliament.”
“They will know that Nigeria is a place where they need to step in.” Each time the Cameroon dam is opened, it happens once a year. The amount of water that typically arrives in Bayelsa washes away a large portion of the uplands and a lot of land. Houses are also washed away.
Along the coast from Ondo to Akwa Ibom, most of the towns are closed during the rainy season and when the dams need to be maintained every year. Most people have to leave their towns for six months and look for a place to hide for another six months. You will be shocked to learn that people are moving within Bayelsa because of climate change, even though there is no war going on. “We will do everything we can to help you do more.”
