The Nation Newspaper

Tag: degradation

  • Enugu tackles environmental degradation, distributes clean cook stoves

    ENUGU State governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has reiterated his determination to collaborate with agencies towards curtailing practices that harm the environment. The governor gave this assurance during the flag-off of a pilot project to promote clean and efficient cooking stoves and low-carbon resilient development held at St. Cyprian’s Secondary School, Nsukka, and Ohom Orba, in Udenu Local Government Area. The governor who was represented by his deputy, Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo, said the need to step up actions to stop the continuous degradation of the environment has become quite urgent given the adverse changes being recorded in the weather condition globally.

    “The environment seems no longer conducive for human habitation, the ozone layer being the protector of the present system is being depleted as a result of gaseous emission,” he said. “The negative effects of this abnormality cannot be quantified given the current outbreaks of cancer and other attendant consequences. The incessant flooding and ocean surge being experienced are pointers to these man-made inadequacies.

    These necessitated the Enugu State government to partner the World Bank and the Nigeria Environmental Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) with a view to providing these environment-friendly stoves to stem the rising risk associated with our cooking stoves and firewoods that breed deforestation and smoke discharge,” he added. He noted that the current free distribution of the clean and efficient stove is a pilot scheme that will later spread to other rural areas, adding that it will not only reduce the dangers involved in the way people cook, but will also provide a cost effective cooking method for families. Earlier, NEWMAP’s acting project coordinator in Enugu, Mr. Vincent Obetta, stated that the project development goals are aimed at reducing their catchment area’s susceptibility to soil erosion. “It is a multi-sectoral project in selected states to prevent and reverse land degradation, initially focusing on gully erosion sites such as the Enyazurum gully site at Ohom Orba and Onuiyi, at Nsukka, which have threatened infrastructure and livelihood in the areas.

    The rising global temperatures will very likely increase the frequency of heat waves, drought and heavy rainfall, adversely affecting agriculture, forest, water resources, human health and settlements,” Mr. Obetta said. He commended Governor Ugwuanyi for being up to date in the payment of Enugu State’s counterpart fund which, he noted, has yielded immense benefits.

  • Degradation of Akwa Ibom environment

    SIR: The present state of the Akwa Ibom environment- especially the oil producing areas- is appalling. Though natural phenomena like erosion, flood and climate change are major factors which adversely affect the environment, consequences of human activities like gas flaring and oil spillage have threatened an imminent collapse of our ecosystem.

    The situation is worsened by the lack of commitment in rectifying the anomaly. This laissez-faire attitude has continued unabated despite outcry by the victims as well as relevant environment protection laws.

    While stakeholders, especially the trans-national oil companies, have exhibited zero concern for the well-being of their operational domain and its inhabitants, the victims of these acts of degradation are left to their fate. This has led to countless litigation against the oil companies.

    I had first-hand experience of the damage done to the Akwa Ibom environment in early 2016, when I joined few colleagues on a fact finding mission to Eastern Obolo Local Government Area of the state.

    Eastern Obolo, despite being the highest crude oil producer in Akwa Ibom State, is perhaps the most underdeveloped place in the state. It plays host to oil firms including Exxon Mobil, Shell Petroleum Development Company and Amni International Petroleum Development Company.

    Crops planted on Eastern Obolo soil are diseased because the land is poisoned by oil activities. Their waters aren’t fit for consumption because of oil spillage. No development projects like roads, hospitals and electricity. Throughout our over six hour tour of Eastern Obolo, our mobile phones barely had access to network.

    The chairman, Eastern Obolo Traditional Rulers’ Council, His Royal Highness, Job Job, revealed that of an estimated 4,000 oil spill in the Niger Delta region from 1956 to date, Eastern Obolo recorded 145 oil spills with 65 incidences not admitted to by the oil firms; as well as gas flaring, environmental degeneration and diseases.

    Similar scenarios are replicated throughout the state.

    The level of environmental degradation in Akwa Ibom has reached an unbearable level. Paying lip service to the problem isn’t the solution. The state government should realize that it has the environmental protection and waste management agency law in its kitty. Enforcing the law will compel the oil producing companies to respect our environment, and invariably respect us, the indigenes. Government must prove her supremacy in this issue.

    To curtail future mishaps, no exploration of natural resources must be carried out without a fool-proof Environmental Impact Assessment. An immediate halt on gas flaring and paying of compensation to victims must be carried out.

    Recently, the Akwa Ibom State government dragged an oil services company, Globestar Engineering Nigeria Limited to court over failure to pay whooping N65billion tax liabilities. Multinational companies must pay tax unfailingly. Corporate social responsibilities must also be made to be compulsory for such companies.

    Akwa Ibom State government must press ahead with the agitation for relocation of headquarters of oil exploration companies to the state.   Also, telecommunication companies should henceforth desist from installing telecommunication masts near residential areas because of the adverse health effects.

    On their part, Akwa Ibom people must sanitize their immediate environment to avoid contracting diseases which breed in dirty environments.

     

    • Ofonime Honesty,

    Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

  • Environmental degradation: LASG to restore Oshodi

    After enjoying commendable sanity, especially in the early years of the last administration in the state, Oshodi, an area noted for its beehive of commercial activities, is fast losing the beauty and sanity it once enjoyed. Indeed, while the former governor Babatunde Fashola administration got thumbs up for the unbelievable transformation it brought to the Oshodi metropolis, this transformation began to systematically fall apart, and gradually returning the area to the notoriety it was noted for, especially in the twilight of the administration.

    For instance, from the early hours of the evenings, from 6:00pm up to 11:30pm, journeying through Oshodi is a nightmare, as mini buses take over the entire road, parking and loading passengers indiscriminately. The presence of policemen and other law enforcement agents has not helped matters, as they also turn a blind eye to the lawlessness perpetuated by the bus drivers, and extorting money from them. This, it is believed, has emboldened the commercial bus drivers on this route.

    Now, the Lagos State Government has expressed deep concern over the attitude of traders and mini buses operators on environmental degradation of Oshodi area occasioned by illegal street trading, hawking and indiscriminate parking habit on the road thereby creating heavy traffic bottleneck for other road users. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Mr Oluwatoyin Onisarotu, during an assessment tour of the area, noted that the area had been littered with refuse dumps, human wastes, illegal shanties and stalls, illegal motor parks, street trading and noise pollution among others.

    Onisarotu, who emphasised that the state government remains unwavering in its commitment to a clean, hygiene and flood free environment urged traders and mini-buses operators in the area to desist from their indiscriminate loading and off-loading of passengers and goods on the main road, adding that open urination and defecation, indiscriminate dumping of refuse into drains and unapproved sites, illegal street trading/hawking, indiscriminate displaying of goods/wares on drainage alignment, road set-backs, trading along the railway line, medians are forbidden by the State Environmental Sanitation Law.

    He stressed that the peace, security and health of the people living and doing legal business in this environment is being compromised daily through the indiscipline being perpetuated in the area daily.

  • Rector warns against environmental degradation

    The Rector of Ogun State Institute of Technology,(OGITECH), Igbesa, Dr Olufunke Akinkurolere, has implored Nigerians to be more environmental-friendly in their approach. This, according to her, would guard against the depletion of the ozone layer.

    Akinkurolere spoke at the inaugural meeting of Nigeria Environmental Society (NES) which OGITECH hosted.

    She said people should be conscious of their action with respect to environmental hazard especially at a time where the planet earth has become a victim of environmental challenges.

    Akinkurolere described environmental protection as a science which should start from homes, adding that OGITECH will remain in the forefront in the quest for environmental friendliness. She admonished NES to consolidate its relationship with the institutions’chapter.

    Akinkurolere affired that OGITECH have been working tirelessly since 2007 to ensure that Igbesa community remains environmental-friendly.

    The Chairman, Lagos Island Chapter of NES Mr Ekoko Oritsetimeyin John, promised that the Ogun State chapter of NES would be launched before the World Environmental Day in June. The inaugural meeting forms an integral part of development as it creates forum to further interact with existing and intending members, Oritsetimeyin added.

    Oritsetimeyin who represented by Ms Mayowa Ajayi, an administrator with NES, said Lagos Island chapter will strengthen their relationship OGITECH’s. Since there is no chapter in Ogun State, OGITECH chapter, Oritsetimeyin assured, would be made the state headquarters which is expected to birth others.

    The protem chairman of the association, Mr Henry Anwan, said the membership of NES rose from two when it was established in 2008 to 28 members at present. Mebebrship, he added, is opened to students and graduates.

  • Lagos won’t tolerate environmental degradation, says Fashola

    Lagos won’t tolerate environmental degradation, says Fashola

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola yesterday said his administration will continue to pursue its zero tolerance for all forms of environmental degradation.

    Fashola spoke when he inspected the Iganmu, Ijora-Badia under bridge and the immediate environment around the on-going Ijora Housing Estate under the Lagos Home Ownership and Mortgage Scheme (Lagos HOMS).

    Accompanied on the inspection by some members of the Executive Council and other heads of government agencies, Fashola told reporters that such occurrence as living under the bridge, trading on the streets, selling cattle and related items at roadsides in any part of the State remains unacceptable.

    He said: “We can’t allow people to live under bridges, so there will be zero tolerance for that; we won’t allow it, we won’t allow people to trade on the streets, we won’t allow people sell cattle or all of those things by the roadside; it is not going to happen; so, people must know that those kinds of behaviour are unacceptable”.

    Noting that the work of regeneration and urban renewal is being made more arduous by the spiral increase in the population of the State, the Governor, who assured that his administration was equal to the task of managing the situation added that Government is emboldened by the successes it has recorded in the cleanup of some hitherto degraded areas of the State.

    “The population is increasing on a daily basis; migration here really multiplies the enormity of the work here. But this is what we signed for and we are emboldened by the success we have recorded in urban renewal across the State to reclaim this kind of unacceptable conditions and turn them into acceptable and beneficial condition”, he said.

    The Governor said: “It brings with it mixed feelings. Sometimes people do not understand what it is all about until it is finished. It is like when you want to smell roses you must also expect that you could be pricked by thorns. But the smell of roses ultimately makes it more worth it”.

    He said, however, that the human challenge in the whole effort to reclaim the city is how people choose to live adding, “I continue to say that people must take decision on how they choose to live. It is discouraging that we build and clear drainages but when we come back to them what we see is human waste, food and thrash in drainages, yet the same people come back when it rains to say they are flooded”.

    “Ordinarily there shouldn’t be refuse in a drain in any part of the world that I know. So we must challenge ourselves that we must change in the choices that we make; people hanging clothes on the highway, people relocating in the pursuit of unreal expectations, these are unacceptable”, the Governor said.

    Underscoring the futility inherent in the idea of relocating from one’s family in pursuit of uncertainties, Governor Fashola cited the example of the man he met in the course of the inspection who said he came from Katsina to make money and has now been stranded and forced to live under the bridge and beg for a living.

    The man, Nurudeen Hassan, who was seen sitting under the Ijora-Badia Bridge, had told the Governor that    he left his wife and children in Katsina because he believed he could make money by coming to Lagos.

    The Governor said: “His story clearly has become a tragedy because he sleeps under the bridge. He left a home no matter how small it is and his target as he sat there was how to raise N30, 000 to go back. The dream has died in a sense and I think he better understands now that he is better off at home because he had a business there. He had a shop where he said he was selling recharge cards and some other things”.

    He assured the people that the efforts to clean the city would succeed adding, “I am sure that our experience in cleaning up some very devastated places like Oshodi, cleaning up Obalende, will serve us in good stead. We will get this one right, I am optimistic”.

    Fashola, however, appealed to the people to stop using the drains built with their tax money as refuse dumps and trash bins advising them instead to patronize the PSP   “It is the more patronage that the PSP gets that will create more jobs in that line and solve the problem of unemployment because taking waste out of our immediate environment requires people to do that kind of work and they get paid for it”, he said.

  • Community decries environment degradation

    For residents of Ilupeju-Titun in Orile-Agege Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, death comes by installment. The old, young, male and female are up against one enemy- thick black smoke  emanating from illicit  activities of hoodlums who daily burn used tyres at the Gotan Kowa dumpsite in its neighbourhood.

    The activity of these hoodlums had left many residents with various degrees of tract infections, ranging from asthma, bronchitis, and throat and lung cancer. Both young and old have become out patient at the nearby General Hospitals at Orile-Agege and Ikeja, while several private hospitals have their hands full dealing with cases of residents who suffer from respiratory infections.

    Most houses around the area are blackened with smoke arising from the burning activity at the dumpsite. No resident could afford to put washed clothes and apparels out in the sun to dry. This is because such clothing material would be blackened by soot.

    Opening up windows in the area for ventilation was a rarity, as such attempt is noted to be an invitation for one’s room to be invaded by smoke and open oneself to hazard.

    About 10 streets that made up the Ilupeju Titun community have borne this dilemma for close to three years, but the case got worse over the last 16 months, as they alleged the hoodlums scaled up their trade and turned the dumpsite into a major depot for used tyres which were usually laid by and burnt for the purpose of extracting copper wire from them, a badly needed component in the electrical sector.

    Among streets badly affected by this activity are: Soretire, Kabiawu, Oguntade, Olagoke and Ogundele. Others are Irepodun, Egbatedo, Oyatogun, Adeniji Eleru and Alexander Estate.

    Most of those who spoke with this Correspondent when he visited the area have the same wish list: ‘flush out these hoodlums before we all perish.”

    Olawale Kazeem, 38, said he and members of his family have been battling with respiratory ailment since February. Kazeem, a mechanic, said his wife and three year-old-child Olawale Jr have been in and out of the hospital for more times than he can remember. He added that it was when a doctor asked whether his child was usually exposed to any dust or smoke that it crossed his mind that the fume that envelopes their house daily is a potential health hazard.

    Another community leader Chief Jamiu A. Jimoh said the community is becoming more helpless as none of those they have appealed to for help to curb the excesses of these hoodlums have risen to their aid.

    He said: “We have written series of petitions to the Chairman Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), the Ministry of Environment and the state governor to help address the issue but the case seem to have defied any solution.

    “We are left with the impression that these people are above the law and that we did not matter. The only thing close to any government’s interest was when a LASEPA official led an inspection team to the dumpsite. They came, saw the loads of used tyres ready to be burnt and took notes, but that is the end we ever got from them. They never got back to us and everybody has since gone back as if nothing was wrong.”

    Jimoh continued: “The community has come short of resulting to physically confronting these hoodlums because of the need to preserve peace and security. But our youths are becoming restless and could resort to self help if government refuses to come to our aid soon. Everyone is coming down with respiratory sickness and we are all dying by installment. We have a right to life and we might take this right to the door steps of the dumpsite if we got no succour from the government.”

    Jimoh said members of the community have found out that the men had been melting the tyres in order to extract copper wires which were later sold.

    Another resident Otunba Adetola Odubela also expressed his frustration over the deadly fumes.

    “When I moved into this neighbourhood, it was a quiet, peaceful and easily accessible place. We started experiencing this sad thing over three years ago. Then, it wasn’t this bad, but over the years, particularly since 2011, it began to get worse and right now, has become unbearable. The floor of my house are covered with thick black smoke, the paintings have been defaced by black smoke and I do not open my windows again because of the smoke.

    “Few months ago, one of my neighbours had to travel out of the country to have throat surgery. Many of us are already carrying loads of carbon that are harmful in our system, yet the government seems not to bother. We have written series of protest letters. We are getting tired of waiting for a response,” Otunba Odebela said.

    The Chairman of Ilupeju Titun Community Development Association Alhaji Yisa Ejalonibu said the community had invited the lawmaker representing the constituency in the Lagos State House of Assembly Hon. Yinka Ogundimu to come and see things for himself.

    “When he came here last year, he went round the place, took pictures which he promised to take to his colleagues at the Lagos House of Assembly. He promised that something would be done about this menace. Sadly, nothing has been done till date.

    “The fact is that we don’t even know what is going on anymore. Nobody seems to be interested in coming to our aid, which is why we decided to invite the media to help put our case again before the government. Our lives are being threatened by the activities of a few, whose economic activity is leaving a hail of health hazard on its immediate community.