By Obiabin Onukwugha
The North East Development Commission, (NEDC) is seeking partnership with the Lake Chad Development Commission to implement the 11 pillars of the commission.
This comes as the Managing Director and CEO of the NEDC, Mohammed G. Alkali led a delegation for a visit to the office of Lake Chad Basin Commission, LCBC at N’Djamena, Chad to meet with the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Amb. Mamman Nuhu who is also the Head of Mission MNJTF.
The move is to address the issues of climate change impacts, adaptation, waste management, biodiversity loss, insecurity and hunger problems, among others, as contained in the North East Stabilisation aand Development Master Plan (NESDMP) of the NEDC.
NESDMP was devised to fulfill the NEDC’s mandate, which comprisees ‘Protected Environment’ as one of its eleven key pillars, which is categorized into Natural Ecology Conservation, Protection of Species and Ecological Communities, Environmental Protection, Biodiversity, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, and Waste Management.
The move is part of an effort by the NEDC to accelerate the regional recovery effort as it steps up sustainable implementation of programmes based on the needs of the Six states, which is in addition to humanitarian interventions and disaster support .
The North-East as a region presents a compelling case for environmental concern due to its vast landmass, desertification, pollution, and climate change, as well as the shrinking of Lake Chad, ungoverned spaces, insurgency, and the attendant fragility these have occasioned. This fragility undermines food security and security of lives and property. Agriculture and trade, the two most important livelihood activities sustaining the region, have been greatly undermined.
The region’s heightened herdsmen-farmers conflict is largely ascribable to environmental degradation, Lake Chad’s recession, and human-induced activities such as mining, deforestation, irrigation, and dam constructions, it is argued.
During the meeting, Alkali emphasized that the LCBC’s strategies for recovering the lake Chad basin are similar to those of the NEDC in the recovery of the Northeast region as contained in the Master Plan.
The MD/CEO Mohammed Goni Alkali emphasized that the LCBC’s strategies for recovering the lake Chad basin are similar to those of the NEDC in the recovery of the Northeast region as contained in the Master Plan.
He stated that the NEDC views the LCBC as a strategic partner in the quest to actualise its developmental programmes as the regional body’s activities strongly impact on the six states of the North East.
He added that currently, the Commission is intensifying the sustainable implementation of programmes tailored to the specific needs of the six states in the region, supplementing humanitarian interventions and disaster support.
Responding, the Executive Secretary of Lake Chad Basin Commission, Amb. Mamman Nuhu, expressed readiness to work with the NEDC so as to address the issues.
Nuhu also pointed out that there is a window for everybody in terms of the 9 pillars out of the 40 strategy objectives of the regional stabilization strategy, every body can come in with a plan .
He said: “We certainly have alot to do together so at our technical level we will come up with recommendations on how we can work together and form stronger partnership in order to pitch up the affected period already under Prolac which is called (in support of MCRP) it is called prolac in all the other countries except Nigeria where it is in support of MCRP and where we have been working closely with all the others, where we have the regional help”
“The only limitation we have is funding otherwise it is an excellent plan and it is adaptive. It is also inline with the Lake Chad Basin Commission Regional Stabilization Strategy which was developed in the year 2018”.
Among the MD/CEO’s delegation were the Executive Director Adminn& Finance Dr. Abubakar Garba Iliya, Prof. Umar Bobboi National Cordinator MCRP, Prof. Mohammed Abbagana, Head, Research & Planning, Mohammed Umar Sani, Head, Resettlement & Early Recovery and Naomi Abwaku of the Commission’s Corporate Services Department.
Meanwhile, the Delegation from the NEDC while in N’Djamena to will be participating in the 3rd Annual International Forum on the Development of the Lake Chad Basin with the theme ‘Enhancing Local Governance and Social Cohesion for Socio Economic Development and Food Security in Changing in the Lake Chad Region’.