Edo needs N160b to fix gully erosions – Commission

By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE Edo State Ecological Funding and Management Commission said it has discovered over 60 areas ravaged by gully erosion in the state and that not less than N160 billion would be needed to fix them.

Chairman of the Commission, Dr Blessing Agbomere, stated this at a press briefing in Benin City, where he said the Commission would soon launch the state’s Green Revolution to ensure a human-friendly environment in the state and a Trust Fund to raise the needed money to fix the gullies.

Flanked by the Commission’s Executive Directors in charge of Finance and Projects, Khadijat Yusuf Phd. and Felix Ibhad,e respectively, Agbomere said the Commission was an interagency one and would work with various government ministries, agencies and department to ensure the actualisation of the SHINE agenda of the Governor Monday Okpebholo administration.

Agbomere said the Commission would also discuss with investors and the necessary authorities to convert most of the recovered sites from the gully erosion challenge into tourist sites, this he said would attract individuals and organisations to be part of the Fund seeing that their contribution would be another kind of investment.

He also lamented the activities of miners across the state which he sadi were contributing to the gullies just as he revealed that the Commission has a mandate to plant at least one million trees by the end of the four years of the administration.

He said “We are officially launching and unveiling Monday Okpebholo Green Revolution for Edo State and also launching the Edo State Ecological/Climate Trust Fund. The Commission has a mandate and the mandate is ecological.

“We went round Edo State after we were inaugurated to access all the negative ecological impact sites in the state. We were devastated about what we saw. I never believed Edo had been devastated by gully erosion until we did our assessment tour.

“Edo State budget for three years cannot resolve the gully problem. To resolve and remediate one gully, we need between N5bn to N6bn. We have some that will cost N20bn. Edo State alone cannot solve the issue of gully because the budget is for many projects.

“We are expecting to raise N160bn to solve Ecological problems at the Trust Fund to be able to resolve ecological challenges. We cannot remediate all the gullies so we have to do them in phases.

“Part of our plan is to turn these gully sites to tourist attractions. We will restore, conserve and preserve. We are already designing projects that we will put in every gully we remediated.

On mining activities Dr. Agbomhere said “A lot of companies are operating in Edo state. After their operation, they will leave the state without remediating the environment. We are calling on them to tell us their plans of remediation when they leave.”

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