The Permanent Secretary of the Ecological Project Office, Dr Habiba Lawal, has urged state governments to establish their own version of her office with a view to tackling the enormous environmental challenges confronting local communities.
Dr Habiba, who said this while interacting with journalists in Abuja, also asked the federal government to increase funding for ecological projects, as according to her, ecological challenges in the country are huge and communities are suffering.
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She, therefore, urged state governments to have a version of the ecological office so that they could solve ecological challenges with the funds they received.
Habiba, who will be retiring from service today, said she was overwhelmed by requests for ecological projects.
She said, “We have over 1,900 requests brought to the ecological project office by Nigerians, and they believe that their requests will be granted and the jobs will be done.
“Once they find out that their request is not granted, they feel it is the permanent secretary that has refused to approve, it but it is only the president that approves the ecological fund.”
She noted that insecurity was also a major challenge in delivering projects.
She said, “Nigeria is a homogenous and diverse country; there are some specific cultural situations within some of our communities that affect the way the projects are being delivered.
“There are some states where the youths made projects’ delivery more difficult and expensive. These often lead the contractors going further to hire security agents to enable delivery of the projects.
“But in all the challenges, I am happy to say that it has not stopped us from delivery; it only delayed the execution of the projects.”
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