Anambra moves to tackle 900 erosion sites

Anambra State which is adjudged the most erosion prone and devastated landscape in Nigeria, according to statistics, has about 1,000 erosion sites.
The Nanka erosion site , for example, hasdevastating effects on the agricultural and other socio-economic lives of the people of the communities in the area.  Agulu, Oko and many other contiguous towns also groan under the enormous and increasing danger of this phenomenon.
However, Governor Willie Obiano recently disclosed plans to plant one million trees as part of efforts to fight the over 900 erosion sites in the state.
The Managing Director of Awka Capital Territory Development Authority, Michael Okonkwo, at a press briefing, said his committee had visited Lagos State to understudy the state’s Greenery Projects programme aimed at developing parks and gardens at strategic areas.
Okonkwo, who is also the chairman of the steering committee of the tree planting exercise, said the government also planned to replicate some of the greenery projects similar to those of Lagos to check the menace of erosion and soil degradation, especially in the erosion-prone areas of the state.
“The tree planting exercise would enhance the re-forestation programme of the state and federal governments designed to address the challenges of deforestation and its attendant consequences on the environment,” he said.
Revealing the state government’s intention to embark on a state-wide campaign for individuals, religious and organisations to key into the exercise, Okonkwo added that arrangements have been put in place for every child in school to plant a tree.
He explained that the exercise would kick-start with the planting of over 4,000 trees along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway to ensure that the trees were protected and nurtured.
Okonkwo said the forestry departments of the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, had been mobilised to take responsibility of protecting the plants.
Meanwhile, practical measures through funding and enlightenment campaigns have been taken by successive governments towards containing the menace and to save the zone from further degradation.