Abuja — Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Fidelia Njeze, has said that the Federal Government would require an estimated N11 billion to tackle desert encroachment in the northern part of the country.
She said the country's arable land mass and water resources are seriously being threatened by the twin hazards of drought and desertification especially with the increasing scourge of climate change. She stated that desert now covers over 35 percent of the country's total landmass as it has moved from Kebbi and Kano areas to New Bussa and Jos regions.
The minister, who was represented by the Acting Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr. Abubakar Jimoh, made the disclosure on the occasion of the Workshop on Promoting Climate Information Services for Sustainable Socio Economic Development in Nigeria organized by the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NIMET) in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel.
Acknowledging the grim picture of the encroachment, she said Lake Chad which was once the largest fresh water lakes in the world has now shriveled by 95 per cent over the last 40 years.
She added that the notable impacts of the twin hazards include food shortages, malnutrition and diseases, water scarcity, massive migrations which often result in conflicts.
She said, "These have continued to pose major obstacles to achieving sustainable socio-economic development including efforts to protect past developmental gains."
Njeze added that the problem is further compounded by inadequate human and infrastructural capacities to cope with the hazards as well as reduce the country's vulnerability to the hazards, which she says, is a necessary element of poverty reduction strategies that would in turn facilitate the actualisation of the first MDG as well as the Vision 2020.
She said the government was desirous of mitigating the negative impact and achieving high economic growth. She said agricultural productivity depends to a large extent on weather and climate information.
The minister stated that the timely and accurate provision of the necessary agro climatic information and advisories such as the seasonal rainfall prediction provided by NIMET has been identified as a major intervention in addressing these problems.
She said weather and climate forecasts, particularly the information on onset and cessation dates and length of the rainy season are useful for decision makings regarding choice of crop variety, planting dates, and investments in infrastructure. She added that NIMET's activities transcends beyond its services in the aviation industry in ensuring safety of lives and property. She said the urgent need for acquisition of updates on agro metrological data analyses techniques in the development of agro climatic information products and services for sustainable development in Nigeria.
In his remark, the Director General of NIMET, Mr. Anthony Anuforo said the Agency in line with its mandate is highly committed to providing very valuable, timely and accurate weather and climate information for all application areas of meteorology particularly in priority areas like food production and food security, water resource management and air, land and maritime safety.
He said the increasing variability and fluctuations in the global weather pattern in recent decades have however constituted great challenges in the provision of information services.
"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate IPCC projection shows that for about 2.5 degree Celsius rise in average.
temperature, a decrease in net return to cropland by USD16 billion. He said the impact of the drought episodes of 1968 and 1973, which reduced agricultural yields to between 12 per cent and 14 percent of the annual average which led to the death of over 300,000 animals and livestock is still being felt.
He said it is in this regard that the Agency is organising the workshop to strengthen its human capacity and improve service delivery in the provision of climate information to guide operators of the key socio economic sectors and thus ensure sustainable developments in the various sectors.
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Over the past decades, Trillions of Naira have been spent in the interminable effort "to Fight Desert Encroachment" Today, there is nothing to show for it except evidence of embezzled funds. This shows in the form of mansions built by the corrupt feudal leaders from these states. Mansions that are surrounded by dilapidated shanty towns and army of beggars. Meanwhile the desert continues to encroach and other parts of the country with serious and credible environmental problems are neglected.
The same people during the last census fraudulently produced outrageous population figures for these same desert areas. The present population data for Nigeria shows, for instance, that Kano is more populous than Lagos. Isn't it laughable. Just tell us please, which other desert in the world is known for the high density of its population. This is the mentality of the Jihadist cabal of Nigeria who always reap where they did not sow.
Meanwhile the desert continues to encroach and other parts of the country with serious and credible environmental problems are neglected.
The twin sister of this is the trillions spent on "EDUCATIONALLY DISADVANTAGED STATES", another interminable undertaking designed to siphon money away from the federal government to corrupt Hausa-Fulani oligarchs. This special fund has been running for decades. The originators being the corrupt Hausa-Fulani Islamic cabal, there was never a time limit to this. You would expect that after some time, those states, with the help of the special fund, would be able to catch up with the rest of the country. You would expect that in ten, twenty or thirty years time the fund would have served its purpose and the money directed to other areas of development. The fact is that some of the money was spent on a few from privileged families and the rest embezzled. Do not be surprised if the Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab , was a scholarship holder from the fund despite the fact that his father, is stinkingly rich. Abroad, you would see students from those areas living in flats in exclusive areas and riding expensive cars while other students from other parts of Nigeria survive by washing dishes and cleaning gutters.
In responsible societies, any such projects would first be studied and time frame set for any proposed remedy to produce tangible results. They should never be open ended as this encourages corruption and waste. This is what the law makers should be doing instead of engaging in free for all fights in the chambers.
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EXCISION
The ultimate solution to the intransigence of the Sharia states, to removing the terrorism stigma; to saving thousands of lives perennially slaughtered by Sharia state Muslims, to dealing with the fraudulent population figures from those same states and to moving forward and being reckoned as an emerging market along with the CIBS (China, India, Brasil and South Africa) is EXCISION. Excision of those states that have brought all the ills on the country.
No one says that there won't be challenges afterwards. India did have challenges after it separated with Pakistan. We can all see where India is today in terms of democracy, economy, science and technology, etc. You cannot make any progress with people who have no value for human lives, who are in partnership with terrorist organisations and states that sponsor terrorism and breed terrorists.
The cancerous cells must be cut off. This is the only way to eradicate the culture of corruption and impunity. That is the only way forward!!!
Greetings from Copenhagen
excisionist(at)gmx.com
NORTHERN NIGERIA, the HAUSA/FULANI Religious zealots are the proverbial "LEAD BOOTED TURKEYS" flying with a squadron of Eagles, and in this case, are actually directing the trafiic. THIS EAGLE WILL NEVER SOAR. The DAMAGE that Britain has done to to every BLACK MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD in that geographycal region is imeasurable. BBC broadcasts in ONLY one indegenous Nigerian language, a very SIGNIFICANT endorsement of the language and culture. HAROLD WILSON handed Nigeria over to the Hausa/Fulani and sacrificed the Igbo in a killing fields of genocide, with the knowledge that the most backward part of the country will always hold the rest of the BLACK POPULATION, HOSTAGE from any developement. 45 yeras after the war of genocide masterminded by Harold wilson, Nigeria has decayed just the way it was intended. Just like the Malcom X said, the chicken will come home to roost, EVENTUALLY. The slave master will have his day of recorning.