Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo announced the official launch of the Edo State Flood, Erosion, and Watershed Management Agency (Edo FEWMA) in Benin.
The state government has invested $150 million in flood control and erosion management efforts in different areas.
The new agency, established by the government, aims to sustain the progress made in erosion control and flood management under the World Bank-assisted Edo State Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (Edo NEWMAP).
Obaseki emphasized the government's commitment to protecting the environment and improving the livelihoods of Edo residents. He acknowledged that many of the state's environmental problems are caused by human activity and stated that the government is taking steps to create a sustainable and resilient Edo.
He also warned that any agency planning to build roads in the state, including the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), must first register its design with Edo FEWMA for proper engineering and erosion control.
Obaseki also added that "Over the last 10 years, we have spent over $150 million trying to repair what we have damaged by ourselves".
“We should ask ourselves if this is the way we should continue to go. Can we not prevent some of these things that are leading to the environmental challenges we are faced with?
“Majority of the cases are all man-made. You have a contractor, who was given a contract, and he decides to begin construction, but he doesn’t share the plan, and he doesn’t tell how the water will be terminated.
“He does his own, collects his money and leaves the problem with the communities. That is a major cause of the problem we are having with erosion control.
“So, as a government, we will insist, going forward, that no agency, not federal, not local, even the NDDC, will undertake projects without coming to register with Edo FEWMA because you just can’t come to the state to say you have a contract, you begin to work and not let us know the extent of engineering drawings and how you are going to deal with issues of erosion control.
“As you know in Edo State, over the years, due to neglect, we are now witnessing many challenges that we didn’t see before, particularly gully erosion.”
He said: “The way we have lived in the last 20 years or more, I don’t think we should continue that way; we behave as if our environment does not matter, and nobody cares about land management.
“Communities sell and do not care about planning. People build where they should not and the water that should flow through a natural path does not have a way to go and goes where it shouldn’t and begins to wash away the land. As a government, this has become our priority.
“Our number one priority is our environment because we cannot continue to behave the way we are behaving now.
“If our forefathers had behaved this way, we will not be living here. We can hardly see trees and this means the land cannot hold water if there are no trees.
“So, the environment is a very serious area of focus which we must pay attention to and it is because we have not been paying attention to the environment that is why we have the challenges we have today,” he added.
