Ahmad Salkida
21 August 2007
Maiduguri — An environmentalist, the head of department, Forestry and Wild life, University of Maiduguri, Dr Hassan Adewusi has said that Nigeria is faced with imminent environmental disaster which has the capacity to seriously undermine security of lives and property.
He said from the current trend of deforestation and the failure of concerted efforts by successive governments to ensure successful tree planting, commensurate with the level of degradation, coupled with the increase in flooding faced recently, Nigerians, the expert said, may in five years see a different turn of events, as serous disaster looms ahead.
The environmentalist who spoke at an exclusive interview with Daily Trust at the weekend, said the increase in floods particularly in this year alone, confirmed some of his fears about the fragile eco-system in the North. "Drought has to do with the climate, while desertification is aggravated by people's activities, and if these two are combined, where you remove the vegetation cover of a place and expose the soil to a lot of environmental conditions, farming will become unsustainable and if farming is unsustainable, you can think of the consequence", he said.
Dr Adewusi said he wished to remind Nigerians, especially those at the level of authority that, the 1969 to 1970 drought in the Sahel region particularly, the African Sahel, when people had to move from their countries, Bukina-faso, Niger and Chad e.t.c, and migrated to as far as Lagos.
According to him, the environmental conditions then, were so hostile, which led to famine, dead of animals, diseases and other catastrophe. And the events that led to that disaster seemed to be rearing its ugly heads, but this time around, it is in Nigeria, Adewusi contended.
He further reiterated that, he is raising this alarm based on recent research works and other environmental indicators, for government and the entire society to act fast and try to avert a disaster. "Because, if disaster happens here, no nation will be able to accommodate Nigerians like the manner Nigerians accommodated many people from the south of the Sahel," he concluded.
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