Sodiq Ojuroungbe
The Minister of State for Environment, Dr Iziaq Salako, speaks with SODIQ OJUROUNGBE, on efforts made by the Federal Government to address environmental challenges that include the devastating impact of perennial flooding on communities like Isheri, the border town between Lagos and Ogun states, desertification and land degradation.
What measures have been adopted by the FG to curb desertification and land degradation, particularly in the Northern part of the country?
Land degradation is another resultant effect of climate change because of the global warming we are experiencing. We have desertification happening very fast, and then land depreciation also because of the way we use our land in a non-sustainable manner.
For us, one of the key things to prevent land degradation is to adopt nature-based solutions in terms of planting trees. And that’s why we have the agencies like the Great Green Wall planting trees. For example, the mandate given by Mr President to the ministry is to ensure that we plant at least six million trees in 2024.
And we have designed our programmes to ensure that we achieve this. The agencies that are going to plant trees are the Forest Research Institute of Nigeria in Ibadan, the Great Green Wall and then the ministries and then we have a special intervention project by Mr President that is also going to plant trees, to achieve large-scale tree planting.
We are also going to use tree planting to promote agroforestry and bamboo as an alternative to trees. So, you see us doing all kinds of programmes like that to address land degradation.
Well, the game show is still in the cooler. We will not want to reveal too much for now. I am sure that in the coming weeks or months, you will see the public presentation of the game show, and then everybody will see the details of it.
For the tree planting, we’re going to first engage the youth in tree planting. We are going to engage retirees in tree planting, and then we are also going to have our agencies planting trees. We are also going to support the state ministries to plant trees.
We’re going to produce seedlings that we can donate to states and interested non-governmental organisations that have track records of successful tree-planting programmes. Those are the strategies that we are going to adopt.
The presidential initiative that I spoke about is going to engage youths and retirees, especially to plant trees. The whole idea is to train youths to be able to raise seedlings on their own and also to plant those trees, nurture them to adulthood, and be compensated as they go along with doing that by the Federal Government.
In the coming days, by the grace of God, that will also be revealed. And then we’re going to have a lot of technology also deployed in doing that. It’s not going to be an analogue kind of thing. You know, these days with the Internet, a lot of things can happen.
So, we would do a lot of virtual training for youths who register for that programme. Then, we also do virtual monitoring of some of the activities through using of geo-location images that can be used to affirm if the trees were planted.
Those are the kinds of programmes that we are bringing on board going forward, to ensure that we arrest the challenge of land degradation. We engage youths; we engage retirees and we increase the forest copper for Nigeria.
How many jobs do you intend to create through that channel?
From the preliminary work already presented to me, the committee is currently finalising these projects that I have just spoken to you about. From this particular intervention, I think, at the end of the day, we’re looking at creating between 5,000 and 10,000 jobs. And at the end of the day, for a year, those youths and retirees get some token monthly, to ensure that they nurture the trees that they planted and ensure that they germinate.
What are the ministry’s plans to address climate change in Nigeria, especially in light of the increasing number of environmental disasters and extreme weather events?
Climate change has been described as perhaps the most important crisis that the world is currently facing. And it affects virtually everything, including our agricultural outputs. As you said, it affects our weather, transportation, and virtually everything that human beings engage in. So, it’s a very central issue to the Federal Ministry of Environment and also has a cut-cutting implication for several other ministries, including transport, and health.
For the Ministry of Environment, therefore, our approach is two-pronged. There is the approach of what we call how to mitigate the effect of climate change. That means: how do we reduce the factors contributing to what we are seeing as climate change, which is reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
So, you see policies of government around transportation. For example, we talk about compressed natural gases, which are less emitting. You will see the policies of the government around energy. We talk about sustainable sources of energy, using hydro and wind, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That is in the mitigation aspect.
Then, of course, we now have what we call the adaptive aspect, which is now that climate change has happened, how do we live with those adverse effects? How do we cope with adverse weather conditions? How do we cope with issues like flooding, erosion, and desertification? So those are what I call the adaptive aspects of it. These are the two-pronged approach that the ministry is adopting.
For mitigation as an example, we’re doing a lot of work on scaling up renewable energy penetration in our environment. We’re promoting solar energy, we’re promoting hydro energy, and we’re promoting wind energy as substitutes for energy from gas flaring or energy from burning fossil fuel.
We are also promoting practices that reduce the release of greenhouse gases, like methane, which are short-lived greenhouse gases. That also has a significant impact on the environment. So, you see practices in the agricultural sector and practices in the oil and gas sector, as examples. Now we’re monitoring the amount of natural gases that all companies flare.
What is the government doing in on the proneness of Isheri to flooding and other areas prone to such natural disasters?
I was in Isheri yesterday and I had a meeting with the representatives of the residents, including the Oloofin of Isheri, with some of his Baales and chiefs. For Isheri specifically, this is a problem that has been there for a long time. While I was a commissioner in Ogun State from 2007 up to 2011, it was a problem that we faced recurrently during that period.
So, the approach of the Federal Government this time around is to carry out a comprehensive study of what is responsible for the flooding. We have done a lot of palliatives in the past and what we have seen is that those palliative have not solved the problem. We need to understand fully what is responsible for the recurrent flooding in Isheri.
A study is being carried out right from the source of the Ogun River up to where it drains into the ocean. The study will help to see how the Ogun River is contributing to the flooding and also the contribution of the built environment around Isheri. The study will also investigate how the Atlantic Ocean itself contributes to the flooding.
When we fully understand this, a permanent solution will then be worked out that will be long-lasting. That is the approach we are adopting. For this year’s rainy season, we may not be able to intervene majorly to prevent the occurrence of flooding. But I can assure you that this issue of Isheri flooding is a priority to the Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Environment. We are looking at it very critically.
For flooding issues generally, the government has set up a special committee on flooding mitigation and adaptation, which is headed by the Governor of Kogi State. The Federal Ministry of Environment is a member of that committee and I represent the Federal Ministry of Environment in that committee. The Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the Federal Ministry of
Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and then some agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency and meteorological agencies are on that committee.
How is the ministry collaborating with international organisations and neighbouring countries in protecting wildlife and the environment?
Well, elephants fall into the category of endangered species, so they are protected by law. It is illegal to kill an elephant and anybody who kills an elephant can go to jail for doing so because they are protected by law and they are not supposed to be killed. And there is also an international convention to which Nigeria is a signatory, which is to protect some of these animals like elephants, pangolins, Eagles, and so on.
What I can tell you is that in the Ministry of the Environment, we take seriously the protection of wildlife. And that is why, recently, when two elephants were killed illegally in a state in the North, we had to take it up. It was even a military officer that was involved, and we had to take it up with the military. We met with the Chief of Army Staff, we met with the Minister of Defence. We were able to ensure that those people were questioned, such that they would see that this thing is not allowed.
But what we have found out is that ignorance is the reason behind all these. People do not know, although ignorance is not an excuse in law. But we also need to scale up our awareness campaign, so that the people are more aware. Most of us buy bush meat on the road and don’t check whether it is protected bush meat or not. If you are caught with protected bush meat, you can be held liable for illegal wildlife trafficking.
We are coming up with an innovative TV game show to promote environmental citizenship and awareness. So, the awareness also needs to be scaled up. These are areas that we are also looking at to ensure that our people become conscious that they need to protect our wildlife for the future.
Copyright PUNCH
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: health_wise@punchng.com
The post Govt palliative measures ineffective against Ogun perennial flooding, minister reveals appeared first on Healthwise.