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AN INSIGHT INTO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN ENUGU STATE PRESENTLY

Published

4 years ago

September 19, 2020

Ifeanyi Ogenyi

Globally, environmental degradation is becoming increasingly evident.

Undoubtedly, it is a threat to human existence. These challenges may likely persist and even intensify unless drastic measures are taken by the government to protect the ecosystem.

It is a very critical role of the government to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.

The government responsibility with regard to environmental protection is enshrined in Section 20 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) which provides thus: “The State shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wildlife of Nigeria”. Thus, the State’s power to protect and manage the environment is derived from the Constitution-“ the grand norm”.

The need for aggressive environmental protection and conservation of the natural resources in contemporary society and Enugu State, in particular, cannot be over-emphasized; and to drive this all-important mandate to an appreciable success, the government has to play invaluable roles.

In Enugu State, the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources is the Ministry saddled with the responsibility to oversee the environment and the natural resources in the State.

It used to be the thinking of most of the Enugu People and its residents that the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources is just all about waste disposal and cleaning of Enugu City (the ESWAMA job). This is because the critical roles of the Ministry have been in obscurity and the people have not felt their presence in other areas within their purview due to the indifferent attitude of the past administrations to the performance of the Ministry.

However, the story is different presently under the administration of Rt.Hon.Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi who has appointed a man who knows his “onions” very well to head the Ministry in the person of Hon. Barr. Chijioke Edeoga, former Commissioner for Ministry of Local Government Matters. The notable reforms and track record of Hon. Chijioke Edeoga in the Ministry of Local Government Matters is numerous and indelible.

Hon. Chijioke Edeoga likes his boss Rt. Hon. Ugwuanyi possesses transformative leadership character such that whatever they touch, gets transformed. With the Midas touch of Hon. Edeoga in the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry is now back on track for optimal performance.

Enugu has been repositioned on the part of a serene, clean, conducive, and aesthetically pleasing environment.

Under the present administration, people have come to realize that the mandate of the Ministry of Environment goes beyond waste disposal and cleaning of Enugu City.

It is worthy of note that the present administration under Rt.Hon.Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has taken drastic measures to regulate and sanitize the chaotic outdoor advertising regime in Enugu through the establishment and inauguration of a new agency known as Enugu State Structures for Signage and Advertising Agency ( ENSSAA). This new agency which is under the supervisory jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is the first of its kind in the South East and the South-South States and its mandate amongst others is to bring order and restore the beauty to the skylines of Enugu. The agency is ready and passionate about sanitizing the signage and outdoor advertising in the State.

It is crystal clear that the present administration is fully determined and has demonstrated the ingenuity, capacity, competence, commitment, readiness, and the political will to give the Ministry a new leadership direction geared towards full actualization of the mandate of the Ministry which includes but not limited to wastes disposals, environmental pollution abatement, cleaning of Enugu City but also extended to general environmental protection, conservation of the natural resources and attainment of sustainable development.

Recently, due to the increasing and uncontrolled degradation of the natural landmarks and resources in Enugu, the Ministry took a bold step and issued a stern warning to those distorting our hills and deforesting our environment to desist from such un-friendly environmental activities or face the wrath of the law.

We have seen many of such nefarious and un-friendly environmental activities in the past years without any such action from the appropriate authority, but the present administration had the right person on the job is determined that things must be rightly done in the State.

This is the way to go and it is the right step in the right direction. We cannot continue to watch our environment collapse irredeemably.

The government should intensify its efforts and more drastic measures should also be taken to ensure that the environment and the natural resources are protected from degradation, deforestation, loss of biodiversity and unsustainable developmental activities so as to mitigate the environmental crisis and the effects of climate changes.

There are increasing human pressures on the ecosystem and this increase has counter-reactions on the environment. In this regard, the need for public support for environmental protection and conservation of natural resources is inevitable.

The people must play complementary roles as it will be wrong to think or assume that environmental protection and management are solely the responsibility of the government. All hands must be on deck for us to achieve appreciable success in environmental protection.

The fact still remains that environmental hazards have trans-boundary effects. They recognize no boundary, community, town, or village. Their effects have no respect for anybody irrespective of status, class, or social affiliation.

So the sustainability of natural resources is critical to ensuring rational uses, management, and conservation of the natural resources in Enugu State.

With the undiluted commitment, determination, insight, and inspiration of the present administration, there are clear and informed directions to environmental management; and hope is rekindled in Enugu with regards to living in a clean and conducive environment; and conservation of the natural resources in Enugu.

While we use the environment to meet today’s needs, let us not compromise the ability of the future generation to meet their own needs.

Indeed, Enugu State is working

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Featured

Dikko And The New Vision Accountability and Development in Sports

Published

6 days ago

December 16, 2024

The Gleamer

Felly Mammah N.

Since the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Alhaji Shehu Dikko assumed office on the 30th of October, 2024, he has systematically and deliberately been putting in place structures that would result to proper development of sports in Nigeria. Shortly after he was first appointed by President Bola Tinubu as a leading strength of sports, the Director General (DG), Hon. Bukola Olapade was appointed to compliment his efforts.

Many sports analysts believe that the duo of Dikko and Olapade who have been very visible in sports administration will be one of the best combination to take the sports sector to the next level. The DG no doubt, is the head of administration in the Commission, but it should be noted that the financial enablement to manage the affairs of staff and the political might that shops for the finance needed in the running of the sector rest on the Chairman who has the task of liaising with the President directly.

It is also, worthy to note that there is a huge difference between the administration of in the Civil Service as it is controlled by a Permanent Secretary and Directors while the administration of a Commission involves Board Members and experts whose voices and actions are also, game-changing; more so as Commissioners are likely going to take charge of the different zones to proffer solutions for a way forward. The defunct Ministry of Youths and Sports Development which later in 2023 metamorphosed into the Ministry of Sports Development on the assumption of President Bola Tinubu, produced a minister who was not versed in sports administration and as a result, faced mass criticism especially from men of the media.

These men of the pen profession are the torchlight of global sporting activity; they equally keep the history of both sports participation globally as well as the records of athletes’ performances. Their torchlight on past Minister’s and particularly the recent past, have revealed that most of the people who presided over sports administration do not really have any knowledge of the sector before their appointment.

The exit of the immediate past Minister, Sen. John Owan Enoh, refreshingly paved the way for change and this has brought in sports personnels that are expected to place sporting activities in the digital world. Suffice it to also, say that the new management of Sports Commission in parts of her changes is expected to sanitize athletes’ attitude and character for better reflection of children who have seen and communicated with their peers in the Western world.

However, the clarion call for President Tinubu to remove politics in sports may have changed the leadership of sports going by what many sports fans saw in the last outing of both Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024, where a country like Nigeria did not measure up to her potentials.

Despite the poor performance of atheletes during the World Olympics Games, the past immediate past Minister deserves to be commended that during his tenure, the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) Games was reawakened as the participation of our Super Eagles brought back hope and jubilation to sports fans including the President and higher authorities. Yes whopping sum of N12 Billion was released two weeks to the Olympics Games and at a time the country was not financially stable. Despite the presidential financial support, the medals presented to the country were crisis and ignorant of both the atheletes, Nigeria Olympic Committee and the Atheletic Federaton to do the needful.

Therefore, it is heart-warming that the President harkened to the appeal of his fellow sports lovers to handpick a known figure in the sports arena to share his wealth of experience that gave him both a name in Sports and positions as the former Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Chairman League Management Company (LMC), FIFA match Commissioner of significance, 2nd Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and presently, CAF Committee Member, in addition to his new portfolio as Chairman NSC.

My reference point here is that Alh. Dikko has been given the authority to effect positive change in sports sector, co-ordinate over 40 Sports Federations in the sector, welcome ideas of both sports stakeholders, individuals and veterans of sports that will enable him x-ray the reasons for poor performances in the sector and to chat a way forward for success story. There can never be a new testament without an old testament, thus the reason Alh. Dikko’s doors have remained opened to receive courtesy calls that included the visits by past administrators and foreigners who want to facilitate with whom the cap fits.

Still, in the mood of celebration to formally welcome Alh. Dikko to office was the peculiar power of sports which gathered momentum and the crowd for happy moments as seen in the recent novelty match organized by his friends, associates and sports veterans at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja recently. That gathering clearly announced not just a man who has made a name for himself at a height in global political decision making in sports circle, but a man who has also, given voice to our country’s leagues and international activities.

Sports is a significant sector that comprises emotion, tension, happiness, sadness even death and hope irrespective of the fact that it has the potential to feed many mouths. The sector cannot be compared to other Ministries with delayed bureaucracies and frustration of abilities. While in the civil service the head will rather submerge a growing talent for fear of power thrown, a coach who discovers a talent takes the credit for showcasing a star athelete discovered. Sports has been proven to generate revenue as well as attract public partnership which are all aimed at enhancing podium performance by the athletes.

Shehu Dikko’s business vision and wide participation in football contributed in making him the right candidate to place the sector in its expected level, increase the GDP of the country’s economy and equally be accountable with administrative roadmap for success.

The novelty match organised for him by his sports fans and League managers had the likes of Samson Siasia, Victor Ikpeba, Mutiu Adepoju, Dominic Iorfa, Ahmed Musa in attendance to share their joy with him as they displayed their talent with their foot.
Others that graced the occasion were Super Sports General Manager, Felix Nwogu, former and present Chairmen of House Committee on Sports, NFF President, NOC members and persons from across the globe. That singular act indicated a clear fact that Dikko can actually gather momentum with persons that can support his ideology to deliver as charged by the presidency.

However, the Chairman’s meekness to open his doors to all does not mean weakness neither does it mean that he has not commenced work officially. His work is more of brain tasking because ideas actually rule the world. I will boldly say that he has resumed work with like minds that will not only be on the same page with him but will as well be on success Guinness Book with him.

Felly Mammah N.
Press Officer (NSC).

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