The agency had disbursed N200 million in rebuilding lives and businesses of people who were uprooted by the soaring menace of gully erosion that had ravaged different communities in Anambra State for several decades. The Anambra State project coordinator of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP), Michael Ivenso said.
Ivenso, who disclosed this to news men in Awka, said the fight against gully erosion in the state was not only directed at reclaiming the devastated ecology but also rebuilding lives that had been fragmented by the erosion menace and giving people a chance to dream again.
“This administration has today disbursed N200million to communities across Anambra State, to men and women in a community interest group to set up piggery, poultry, soap making and these people are actually making money and they are able to support themselves and their families, so that’s an aspect of NEWMAP we don’t always talk about because it’s always the not too visible part of it.
“It is one thing to solve the physical challenges created by the devastation wrought by erosion on the environment but the impact the erosion has left behind will still be there if you don’t do anything about them. So, part of NEWMAP’s intervention is to also help the livelihoods of those men, women and children that have been impacted by erosion.”
He went further to explain vividly into the scope of the agency’s efforts to rehabilitate and reignite the lives of victims of erosion menace, Ivenso revealed that no fewer than 16 communities had been positively impacted by the programme.
He said, “In terms of response to communities, we are talking about 16 communities, about 1,700 people and about 60 percent are women. In Amachalla community, there is an interest group of four people involved in poultry farming and in Abagana an oil palm interest group also benefitted.”
Ivenso went further to decried the needless confusion over the nature of the relationship between Anambra State Government and NEWMAP which many opposition politicians had latched onto to dissociate Anambra State Government from the exploits of NEWMAP in the state.
According to him: “NEWMAP in Anambra State is strictly under the government of Anambra State. The tendency of the people to tag it to World Bank is what we have tried to change and get people to understand that it is the state government that is doing the projects. We’ll continue to educate people to understand better. Anambra Government is the one doing the interventions under Governor Willie Obiano administration.”
