EFO implores ownership of Ecological Projects by communities
Asawayofensuringthatprojectssited in communities last long and fulfill the purpose for which they were meant, there is need for communities to take over the ownership of completed ecological projects, the Permanent Secretary of Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Engr. Goni M. Sheikh, has said.
This was made known in a statement from the Ecological Fund Office signed by Tolu Makinde, Deputy Director Press.
According to the statement, Sheikh made the call recently in Sagbama, Bayelsa State, while addressing community leaders led by the Vice Chairman of the Sagbama Community Development Committee, Mr. Ekisah Sinkumo, at the end of a one-day inspection tour of the multi-million naira Sagbama Erosion Control and Rehabilitation Works Project in the town.
The statement read in part: “The best way to show appreciation for the enormous resources being committed by the Federal Government on execution of the various ecological projects across the country is for the benefiting communities to show commitment and regard such projects as their projects as well as unite to prevent people from turning them into dump sites.”
It assured the people that the Sagbama flood control and shoreline protection project will, oncompletion, guard against the kind of flood devastation which the community experienced in 2012, adding that the Federal Government has approved the sum of N1.5billionEcologicalFundintervention for the area.
It also appealed to the community to cooperate with the state government and the project contractor in removing obstructing structures along the right of way capable of hampering the speedy execution of the project.
Mr. Ekisah Sinkumo who recalled the harrowing experience of the community during the 2012 flood devastation, commended the Federal Government for promptly responding to their dire need.
He also appealed to the Bayelsa Stategovernmenttocompensatethose whose properties fall within the right ofway,pledgingthecooperationofthe community.
The statement noted that Sagbama Erosion Control and Rehabilitation works Project was awarded on 5 September 2012 at the cost of N1.5billion to the Nigerian Westminster Dredging & Marine Ltd as contractor and Messer’s Livingstone Consultants as consultant. It said that actual work on the project was started in 2013 and it is considered 62% completed, adding it would be completed before the end of the year.