World Bank’s intervention in Anambra gully erosion

Due to the constant rain in Anambra state that has caused gully erosion at Federal High Court in Awka, the Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) has begun the process of controlling the erosion site, with the intervention of the World Bank.

HELEN OJI reports
Background The Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) is to reduce vulnerability to soil erosion and the menace of gully erosion in the south east as well as land degradation in the North.

The response to the challenges of gully erosion and the emerging land degradation and environmental insecurity, a request for assistance was made in 2010 by then President Goodluck Jonathan to the World Bank Nigeria office, to support the country in addressing severe erosion and its impacts in south – eastern Nigeria.

The Federal Ministry of Environment in concert with the World Bank and its partner’s agencies have designed the Nigeria.

Site inspection According to the Country Director of the World Bank, Mr.

Rachid Benmessoud, led a team of the bank’s officials to inspect the site recently and on the spot assessment of the devastation the erosion had done to the area.

The World Bank has marked the site for rescue works through the Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) in conjunction with the Anambra State Government.

The World Bank team was in Anambra for its Country Programme Portfolio Review in the south-east and south-south geopolitical zones, the programme review is done annually in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Finance to appraise the success of its interventions in the country.

Benmessoud further stated that “work at the Federal High Court in Awka would commence between the end of October and early November after the formal process of documentation.

This is the first time of our visiting Anambra state and we have seen the site, hopefully we will see to the process very shortly and this is an emergency case and we are concerned about what we have seen; we are not talking about starting this work in a matter of years, it is a matter of months to start work.” According to the Secretary to the Anambra State Government, Prof.

Solo Chukwudobelu, who led the state’s team, described the site at the Federal High Court as critical and needed urgent intervention and… we took the opportunity of the World Bank’s visit to the state to show them the site and others, it is a critical intervention they are going to do for us and they are also trying to fast track the process.

Chukwudobelu stressed that “the gully erosion at the Federal High Court was developing daily, noting that the state government was pleased that the World Bank would fast-track the process, that by end of October or early November, the contractor would move to site to commence work.

Justice Iniekenimi Oweibo of the Federal High Court commended the World Bank and Anambra government for the intervention to save the court from imminent cut off.

“You can see for yourself that it is a threatening.

We are about to be cut off.

All along we have been praying for this intervention.

“Some time ago, we met with the officials of the state government and they promised to come to our rescue.

We thanked them for bringing this promise to pass,” he said.

The visiting team also included officials of NEWMAP, State Environment and Economic Planning/Budget Ministries.

Pre-bid meeting with contractors The Project Coordinator of NEWMAP in Anambra, Mr. Mike Ivenso, said the project had held a pre-bid meeting with some potential contractors for the control works and also the Gov.

Willie Obiano had declared emergency on the Alex Ekwueme gully erosion site which was threatening several structures, including the Federal High Court, a hotel, federal secretariat and access roads.

“The bidding process was “abridged” in the light of the urgency of the project and the need to rescue the area expeditiously and the World Bank-sponsored NEWMAP project coordinator said the prospective contractors were expected to respond on or before two weeks after the process commenced instead of the normal eight weeks,” he stressed.

“The contract would be for a period of 12 months but expressed hope that it would be delivered by March next year, funding for the project has been appropriated by the state government which is working in concert with the Federal Government as well as the World Bank.

“We have met with potential bidders, six of them, and they have visited the site to take an assessment of what to do to enable them come up with responsive bids which we can evaluate and the Governor has declared an Emergency on the Alex Ekwueme erosion site and has mandated NEWMAP and all relevant agencies to fast track the intervention works here,” he added.

“Specifically, alot of landslide has occurred here, and the erosion is fast encroaching into the Federal High Court and the governor has directed that we expedite control intervention works here.

This vicinity houses significant amount of federal, state and private property, the area is called Central Business District; the Federal High Court is not the only threatened structure.

“We have a five-star hotel, the State High Court is not far from here, there is the upcoming Federal Secretariat, access roads to the other parts of the district are all in severe danger and that is what informed the declaration of emergency in this area.

“We intend to rescue all these properties with a combination of civil works and bio-remediation activities, the Anambra government had already spent about N22 million on the preliminaries of the project as a demonstration of its commitment to the speedy execution of the project,” he said.

“Anambra Government has spent about N22 million on Environmental Impact Assessment and Resettlement Action Plan; these are the two major things that must be done before any World Bank intervention works can commence as well as the engineering design.

Speedy and rapid response “The Administration Judge of this court has expressed grave fears about the emerging erosion, the Judges complex have been vacated because of the advancing landslide, our mandate is for a speedy and rapid response, so, we expect that it will be remedied by March next year.

Commissioner for Environment in Anambra, Mr. Mike Okonkwo, said that Obiano was very concerned about the erosion challenge, the safety of Anambra people and their property and the governor was glad that the intervention process has started with the commencement of bidding and thanked the World Bank and federal government for heeding the call to rescue the area.

“We have had ministers and heads of agencies visit the area, everybody knows that it is a very dangerous environmental challenge, which is why the bidding process is abridged.

We must pay attention to every detail in the bid so that we don’t get any objection.

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