Anambra State has been named among the beneficiaries of the European Investment Bank (EIB) intervention fund aimed at addressing erosion and land degradation challenges in Nigeria.
The intervention project will be carried out through EIB’s assisted Nigeria Climate Adaptation Erosion and Watershed Project (NEWMAP-EIB) following the payment of the State’s counterpart fund of N500 million by Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
Anda Ayuba-Yalaks, National Project Coordinator of NEWMAP-EIB, made the disclosure when he led the Federal Project Management Unit of the project on as assessment tour of five erosion sites in the State.
He said: “The delegation has conducted an on-the-spot assessment of uncompleted five selected erosion sites within the state, in collaboration with Anambra State Government.
“We visited Ndi Agu, Ikenga Ogidi, Nkpor Flyover, Ugamuma Obosi and Abagana erosion sites.
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“This project is to provide long-term sustainable land degradation control measures and to provide support to the state project management unit to accelerate the project implementation.
“We will further explore best practices and interventions to mitigate the challenges of erosion in Anambra.”
Ayuba-Yalaks commended the governor for fulfilling his promises by paying the counterpart fund to support the implementation of the project.
Philip Phil-Eze, Professor and Anambra State Project Coordinator of NEWMAP-EIB, stated that the Federal Government specifically directed that priority be given to five sites left uncompleted by the World Bank-assisted project.
He added that new erosion sites would only be addressed after the completion of the existing ones.
“Governor Soludo sees erosion as a major threat to the people of the state and he is passionate about tackling it. All the required support will be given to ensure the successful implementation of the projects, ” he said
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