Environment Minister visits degraded areas across the country

BY DOYIN ADEOYE
MINISTER of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, last week, embarked on an assessment tour of some areas of environmental concern across the country.
Determined to tackle environmental challenges such as oil pollution, coastal erosion, industrial pollution and desertification, faced by some areas across the country, the minister made this known when she visited affected areas in the Niger Delta, Borno, Kano, Lagos, and Yobe states.
Among sites inspected by the minister and her team were the Challawa industrial area of Kano State, where the Challawa River is faced by a pollution menace particularly due to the industrial effluents; Baga town in Borno State, which has suffered series of attacks from insurgents, Boko Haram; as well as areas affected by oil spillage in the Niger Delta.
The ministry, at the sand dunes in Yusufari, Yobe State, also reaffirmed its commitment to the issue of desert encroachment, noting that proper planning is the key. It also visited one of the Great Green Wall project site in the state, a programme aimed at establishing shelter belts to fight desert encroachment. The team also visited the Hadejia-Nguru wetlands in the state.
Leading a team of officers of the Ministry of Environment and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the minister inspected three impacted sites: Alpha Beach in Lekki, Kuramo Beach on Victoria Island and Makoko Community at Yaba, in Lagos State.
With an advancement in the shoreline at the Alpha Beach in the last couple of years, coastal erosion have destroyed many houses in this area, with speculations that the recent flooding was caused by the dredging of the bar beach and the sand filling of some parts of the ocean to create the Eko Atlantic City.
With just over a month in office, it is obvious that the new minister is committed to bringing the environment to the forefront of national discourse.