Environment

Environmentalist Blames Depletion Of Lake Chad On Insurgency

Published

10 years ago

August 10, 2015

A world renowned envi
ronmentalist, Dr Vandana Shiva, said the over exploitation and depletion of the Lake Chad was partly responsible for insurgency in the North East region of Nigeria.
Shiva spoke to newsmen on Monday in Abuja after a joint a news conference with an NGO, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMHF), on the need to preserve the soil.
According to him, the degradation of the lake negatively affected millions of lives around it, leading to frustrations which result in the conflict.
“The emergency of violence in Northern Nigeria is deeply connected to degradation of the environment around Lake Chad.
“As this degradation happen, livelihood disappears; what use to be symbiotic relationship end up in conflicts.
“That is what we have witnessed with the Lake Chad, shrinking to five per cent of the water it used to have. Nine million people living around it, supported as fishermen and farmers,’’ she said.
The environmentalist noted that land and water use were inter-connected system that degrade the land, deforest and destroy pasture, ending up creating resource crisis.
According to her, when that which supports a man is taken away, there is frustration, anger and insecurity, leading to violence and crime.
“It is not an accident that young people turn towards violence because that is the way they maintain themselves,’’ she said.
Shiva suggested the rejuvenation of the lake through agriculture and by extension the economy of the North East as a way to tackle the insurgency.
“I think first is the recognition that there is a serious resource crisis, there is a serious ecological crisis and derive from that is serious livelihood and insecurity crisis.
“The challenge is to rejuvenate the resources.
“I really have this dream that instead of government blowing up big money on giant palaces and super highways, let them put money into employment to rebuild the soil and water,’’ she said.
She said this could be done through tree planting and cultivation of crops such as millets which required little water, to slowly build back soil and water.
“The millets only use 250 millimetres of water compared to chemically grown rice which uses 2,500, a few drops of rains can give you millets; they are resilient no matter what happens
“My calculation is that the world could have 400 times more nutrition from millets than we get from chemically grown rice,’’ she said.
According to the environmentalist, the millets Africa gives to the world is the answer for reversal of soil degradation and water depletion.
Earlier, both Shiva and Director, HOMEF, Mr Nnimmo Bassey, noted that greed and power to exploit people and resources without responsibility pose challenge to the environment.
They blamed mostly oil companies which extract natural resources but failed to take measures to tackle global warming,
“We are living in a chaotic and violent world. In history this violence has been marked by slavery, colonialism and imperialism.
“These continued today under different guises and are sugar-coated with the cloak of neo-liberalism. Naked exploitation and despoliation remain the creed,’’ they said.

Environment

Etche Community Blames Erosion on poor conditions of its Road

Published

1 week ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

Some stakeholders in Okoroagu community in the Etche Local Government Area of Rivers state have blamed the perennial erosion in the community on the poor conditions of their road.

They are therefore calling for the rehabilitation of their road.

They said this in an interview with The Tide, at okoroagu.

Speaking to The Tide,the Ochimba of Okoroagu community, Eze Marcus Amadi said the poor conditions of their road has retarded the growth and development of the community.

According to Eze Amadi,”The government has neglected us, they have forgotten about us, we have been writing letters to the government, both to the NDDC to come and repair our road for us, we are on our knees pleading to them to come help us out, at least they should just dredge the road for us”

Continuing he said”If the government comes today to repair our road, nobody will say they shouldn’t.

“Nobody will obstruct them. We have been shouting and crying that our road is not good, the road is affecting the community economically and socially in the sense that, there is no way we can carry our crops out because of erosion.

“Erosion have taken over the road, making it difficult for us to access other communities especially during rainfall you see people falling down and getting injured inside the river which we call Mmiri Ehe in our language, which reaches our waist line during raining season. Our people can not go to other market to sell their products due to the bad road”he said

Also speaking,Chairman Community Development Committee( CDC )Okoroagu , Hon. Elvis Nwaobasi decried the situation of the road, stressing that economic activities are being affected as movement of goods and services have gradually slowed down in the area.

” The road have affected our women so badly, they are no longer going to the other neighboring markets to sell their Agric produce because of the nature of the road.

“This road has also affected us in many ways, it has affected our educational system, security system, it has also affected our health system, because with the nature of that road, people cannot access our health facilities in the community, with the nature of that road, people cannot access our school, with nature of the road, people cannot come in and do business in our community, we cannot access the road because of the neglect of the road.

“People are using our road for excuses to come in and invest and do businesses. People who come to our market to buy our products are no longer coming because of the nature of the road.

” I am pleading with the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayig Fubara to please come to the aid of Okoroagu and repair our road. I am pleading with the Rivers State House of Assembly, we are suffering too much because of this road. We have been neglected and abandoned for years, the government should please come to our aid” he said.

Also the women leader of Okoroagu community, Mrs. Anthonia Nweke blamed some politicians from the area for abandoning the people of Okoroagu

“Our road has been abandoned, overlooked, with no attention, mostly the higher politicians of the place, we have been abandoned for years”

She also called on the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC to come to their aid.

The Youth Leader of Okoroagu community, Comr. Ezekiel Michael Ikeh who also spoke to The Tide correspondent said the community has suffered so much losses because of the poor conditions of the road.

He said despite Okoroagu’s contributions to the wealth of the state and the nation, government has continued to neglect the people “Okoroagu as oil producing community shouldn’t have been suffering what they are suffering today”

By: Omasirichi Ogechi

Environment

UNEP REPORT: FG MOVES TO DESIGNATE OGONI WETLAND RAMSAR SITE

Published

1 week ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

In furtherance to the commitment of the Federal Government through the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation (HYPREP) to the full implementation of the recommendations of the UN Environment Programme Report on Ogoni Environment, the Project has commenced processes to designating Ogoni Wetland as a Ramsar Site.

Labaran Ahmed, National Focal Point for Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance and Assistant Director in the Federal Ministry of Environment, who is leading the process for collection of field samples, said the move will converse biodiversity, enhance livelihood, attract ecotourism and further earn global recognition for Ogoni Wetlands.

The UNEP Report envisages that this would provide the Government with a roadmap for restoration and sustainable management of the Ogoni wetland, bring the site unto international among others.

Project Coordinator, Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, represented by Director Technical Services, Professor Damien-Paul Aguiyi said the project further attests to the Federal government’s commitment through HYPREP to implementing the UNEP Report simultaneously.

Nigeria is a signatory to the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction(BBNJ) Agreement for how research on marine genetic resources must be conducted and documented, ensuring transparency and the equitable distribution of benefits.

Environment

Tribunal Acknowledges losses in Rare species Across the globe …urges for government Action

Published

1 week ago

November 24, 2025

The Tide

The international Right Tribunal has expressed concerned over the continuous loss of rare species across the world.

This was part of a declaration at the just concluded COP30 in Brazil to mark the close of its 6th international tribunal

. Governments and everyday people have been charged to acknowledge that nature has rights just as humans do, and that ecosystems deserve to exist, thrive, and bounce back.

The Tribunal noted that the loss of species is occurring at an alarming rate and that it is time to stop exploiting nature and start protecting it.

The Tribunal urged nations to write laws that protect rivers, forests, oceans, and to end ecocide, recognise and support Indigenous communities, who have always been the best caretakers of the land.

According to the declaration “We are all part of the Earth, an indivisible and living community of interrelated and interdependent beings with a common destiny but with different existential conditions and rights.

“The multiple crises we are experiencing are rooted in the economic, political, legal and social systems established by the industrial and growth-oriented cultures that dominate the world today, including capitalism, along with patriarchy, sexism, racism, and anthropocentrism.”

It was noted that the choice by the Brazilian government to host COP30 serves as a symbol of the importance of the Amazon. They denounced the current and future impacts of the expansion of the extractivist frontier, deforestation, fossil fuels and large-scale mining. It was urged that the Amazon, with its ecosystems, animal, plant species, and rich biodiversity, natural medicines and its vital and reproductive cycles, should be considered as a subject of rights together with the Indigenous Peoples, and other communities that inhabit it.

The co-president and judge of the tribunal, Nnimmo Bassey, while delivering the verdict, noted that the defence of the rights of Nature is the right way to carry out real climate action and that there is no climate justice without the rights of Nature.

The tribunal stressed the need to phase out fossil fuels and quickly move to renewable energy as a way that protects both communities and ecosystems from false solutions that merely benefit financial speculators and compound climate injustices. The Tribunal also urged the United Nations to adopt the pledge as a blueprint for international environmental law.

A copy of the declaration obtained by The Tide revealed that,Judges at the Tribunal included Ana Alfinito of Brazil, Nnimmo Bassey ( Nigeria), Enrique Viale (Argentina), Shannon Biggs (USA), Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation, USA), Tom Goldtooth (USA), Princes Esmeralda (Belgium), Cormac Cullinan (South Africa), Patricia Gualings (Ecuador), Francesco Martone (Italy) Tzeporah Berman (USA), Ashish Katharine (India), Osprey Orielle Lake (USA), Pooven Moodley (South Africa) and Felicio Pontes (Brazil)