NEDC, Chad Basin Commission strengthen collaboration on reclaiming the environment

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) have acknowledged the power of increased collaboration in addressing humanitarian challenges occasioned by environmental issues.

NEDC’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed Alkali, and LCBD’s Executive Secretary, Amb. Mamman Nuhu, spoke about this during a meeting in N’Djamena, Chad.

A statement signed by Naomi Abwaku of the NEDC quoted Alkali as saying that the North East Stabilization and Development Master Plan, NESDMP, was devised to fulfil NEDC’s mandate, comprising ‘Protected Environment’ as one of its eleven key pillars, which is categorized into Natural Ecology Conservation, Protection of Species and Ecological Communities, Environmental Protection, Biodiversity, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, and Waste Management.

During the meeting at the LCBC headquarters, Alkali said the North-East as a region presents a compelling case for environmental concern due to its vast landmass, desertification, pollution, and climate change, as well as the shrinking of Lake Chad, ungoverned spaces, insurgency, and the attendant fragility these have occasioned.

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Daily Trust reports that this fragility undermines food security and security of lives and property. Agriculture and trade, the two most important livelihood activities sustaining the region, have been greatly undermined.

The region’s heightened herdsmen-farmers conflict is largely ascribable to environmental degradation, Lake Chad’s recession, and human-induced activities such as mining, deforestation, irrigation, and dam constructions, it is argued.

In light of the aforementioned issues, Alkali said the NEDC has continued to disseminate its North East Stabilization and Development Master Plan to development partners globally for effective implementation.

Commission is intensifying the sustainable implementation of programmes tailored to the specific needs of the six states in the region, supplementing humanitarian interventions and disaster support.

At the core of the visit, Alkali emphasized that the LCBC’s strategies for recovering the lake Chad basin are similar to those of the NEDC in the recovery of the North East region as contained in the Master Plan.

“The NEDC views the LCBC as a strategic partner in the quest to actualise its developmental programmes as the regional body’s activities strongly impact on the States of the North East,” he said.

On his part, LCBC’s chief executive, Nuhu said: “We certainly have a lot to do together, so at our technical level we will come up with recommendations on how we can work together and form stronger partnership, in order to pitch up the affected period already under Prolac which is called (in support of MCRP). It is called Prolac in all the other countries except Nigeria where it is in support of MCRP and where we have been working closely with all the others, where we have the regional help.”

Amb. Nuhu also pointed out that there is a window for everybody in terms of the 9 pillars out of the 40 strategic objectives of the regional stabilisation strategy.

“The only limitation we have is funding otherwise it is an excellent plan and it is adaptive. It is also in line with the Lake Chad Basin Commission Regional Stabilization Strategy which was developed in the year 2018,” he said.

Other members from the NEDC during the visit included the Dr. Abubakar Garba Iliya, Executive Director, Admin and Finance; Prof. Umar Bobboi, National Coordinator, MCRP; Prof. Mohammed Abbagana, Head, Research and Planning; Mohammed Umar Sani, Head, Resettlement and Early Recovery; and Naomi Abwaku of the Commission’s Corporate Services Department.