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The Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) in Edo State has inaugurated 18 liaison officers to lead proactive measures in the prevention of the spread of gully erosion across local government areas in the state.
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, the Project Coordinator, Edo NEWMAP, Dr. Tom Obaseki, reiterated that the project is an intervention scheme aimed at mitigating the impact of gully erosion sites threatening infrastructures, livelihoods and environmental assets in the state.
He said Edo NEWMAP has been able to address severe gully erosion problems in the short term by reducing vulnerability to soil erosion and climate variability in the medium term.
According to him, “We are here to take the project to the grassroots by making sure that all the gains we have achieved in the past years of this project is sustainable. We are pushing the button up approach so that the problem of land degradation will be a thing of the past in the state.
“The objective at the end of the day is for us to be able to have a state with zero gully erosion. We have decided to set up this structure. We need to get to the community level and partner with the people. We are also organizing a series of workshops for ministries, agencies and departments.”
“We are also working with the MDAs to exchange ideas and knowledge on the issues that cause land degradation that we now spend so much money to elevate. We have also found out that 99 percent of it is man-made,” he added.
Obaseki said the project has four components: erosion and watershed management; infrastructural investment; erosion and watershed management institutions and information service, climate change response and project management, adding that “these are the various plans put in place by NEWMAP to manage erosion and flood control in the state.”
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Project Coordinator, Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project, Edo State (Edo-NEWMAP), Dr. Tom Obaseki (5th from left, front row), with the newly inaugurated officers in Benin City on Thursday, May 6, 2021.
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