Nigeria seeks US intervention on environmental hazards

Disturbed by the increasing lost of lives and property caused by flood, gully erosion and other environmental challenges in parts of the country, federal government through the Nigerian Environmental Society, NES has sought the intervention of the United States of America, USA government.

National President of NES, Prof. Lawrence Ikechukwu Ezemonye, who made call yesterday in Abuja when a delegation of the US Embassy in Nigeria led by the Head of Environment , Science, Technology and Heath, Mrs. Katherine Kaetzer-Hodson, visited their national secretariat, expressed  grave concern over the looming danger posed to the nation’s environment by climate changes.

Ezemonye, who doubles as the Vice Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Benin-City, Edo State, said the nation’s environmental needs can be seen in the environmental challenges.

He said: “Consequently, we would be very delighted to partner and collaborate with your Embassy to tackle these environmental challenges that confront our country in every way possible and practicable.

“Today the environmental challenges are becoming very diverse and dynamic to the extent that the local communities have become overwhelm by the environmental challenges and the consequence devastation that is associated with this challenges.

“The Nigerian environment itself has ecological features that has made it so fragile and substitutable  to challenges  particularly by human activities and these human activities have led to water pollution from the aquatic  bodies associated with polluted drainages and flooding.

According to him, others include; waste management problem that we have now, desertification which is responsible for migration of herdsmen to the South looking for grazing noting that grazing land has been lost, farmland are lost and this migration has been a source of looking for a livelihood.

On the looming danger posed to the nation’s environment by climate change, he noted that though the phenomena is hydra-headed was not peculiar to Nigeria but it’s already showing evidence in the entire nation.

Earlier, Mrs. Kaetzer-Hodson, said that the delegation was on a fact finding mission to know the area the US government could partner with Nigeria to address the problems.

“This is an opportunity for us to know where the needs are and the possibilities for partnership.

“We have being speaking to multiple stakeholders throughout the week to understand more about the environment and to understand how recycling is getting started and becoming a priority for some communities.

“We understand that there are some parts of the country that are deeply concerned about desertification, deforestation, flooding and gully erosion,” she noted.