Clara Omuluzua Madubike | I-Witness News
Anambra State Commissioner for Environment, Engr. Dr Felix Odimegwu has welcomed The NEWMAP-EIB Federal Project Management Unit Team, led by Engr. Anda Ayuba Yalaks to Anambra. The mission was aimed at assessing the state’s effective readiness to participate in the project, perform both preliminary and comprehensive study of the mapped out erosion sites to be worked on and also draw funding from the European Investment Bank.
Anambra State has been listed as one of the beneficiaries of the European Investment Bank, EIB’s intervention in addressing the challenges of erosion and land degradation control in Nigeria since 2024. 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 500 million naira paid by Governor Chukwuma Soludo in the year 2024
The National Project Coordinator of NEWMAP-EIB, Engineer. Anda Ayuba-Yalaks, made this known when he led the Federal Project Management Unit of the project on a collaborative assessment with the state government for long-term sustainable land degradation control measures and to provide support to the state project management unit to accelerate the project implementation.
He added that the delegation will conduct on-the-spot assessment of uncompleted five selected erosion sites within the state, which are Ndi Agu Ikenga Ogidi, Nkpor Flyover, Ugamuma Obosi, Abagana erosion sites, that they will further explore best practices and interventions to mitigate the challenges while applauding the governor for fulfilling his promises to the state citizenry in supporting the project by releasing the counterpart fund for the project.
Dr Odimegwu expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the NewMap-EIB team for selecting Anambra state as one of their core beneficiary state, emphazing that the Environmental degradation has not only taken a large chunk of our landmass but has destroyed lots of properties. He promised that the Soludo- led administration will give them all the support needed to execute the project.
For the Anambra State Project Coordinator of NEWMAP-EIB, Professor Philip Phil-Eze, he mentioned that the Federal Government asked them to prioritize five ongoing sites which were uncompleted by the World Bank Assisted project before other new sites could be taken, that Governor Soludo sees erosion as a major threat to the people of the state and passionate about tackling it.
Some of the stakeholders in various communities like Chief Chigozie Etuga from Ndi Agu Ikenga Ogidi, Ifeanyi Obieze from Ugamuma Obosi whose house caved into the erosion and Sir Godfrey Nzeakor all narrated their ugly experiences and expressed readiness to provide the necessary support to ensure that the project was a success.
The three-day visit ended on a good note as Dr Odimegwu on behalf of Anambra state government handed a plaque of award to the NEWMAP-EIB team in recognition for their Excellence and outstanding leadership and dedication to driving the NEWMAP-EIB project forward, their tireless efforts in addressing environmental challenges and promoting sustainable development since 2023.
