ENVIRONMENT World Bank releases N90bn for erosion sites in Cross River

The Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank and Team Leader of Nigerian Environmental and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), Dr. Amos Abu, has disclosed that the Bank has released $580 million (N90bn) for intervention in five environmental and gully erosion sites in Cross River State.

Abu confirmed that the fund has already been released by the World Bank to the federal government for the implementation of the projects when he paid a courtesy call on Governor Liyel Imoke.

He stated that the project also includes the introduction of irrigation as intervention to improve the lives of people as well as create job, adding that NEWMAP has intervened in Edo, Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Delta and Ebonyi states.

He noted that though the state owned the project, World Bank was only playing an interventionist role.

He commended Cross River as a state that has introduced an internal mechanism to check the menace of erosion and said NEWMAP was prepared to partner the Cross River to tackle its erosion problems.

He lauded the state for setting aside $4.2billion from its budget for erosion control.

The team leader explained that contract has been awarded for the Ikot Awatim erosion site in Calabar Municipality while the bills of quantity for the other sites have reached advanced stage designs and engineering.

Dr Thomas Adebayo of Federal Ministry of Environment commended the state’s effort in tackling environmental and gully erosion, adding that the World Bank and Federal Government have released $1.1billion and Cross River will benefit from the money.

Governor Imoke told the World Bank team that erosion which was endangering lives and property in the state, lamenting that most of the erosion sites were created by man and not by nature due to his failure to manage the environment.

Imoke appealed that work on the project sites be properly and technically supervised to ensure the correct thing is done.