Abuja: The Nigeria Environmental Society (NES) has urged the Federal Government to prioritise ecological challenges across the country to safeguard lives and property against flood disasters. Dr. Efegbidiki Okobia, National President of the society, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Okobia described ecological issues as an administrative challenge and reacted to the burden of ecological challenges in the country and the efforts of the Ecological Project Office (EPO) in addressing these challenges. He stated that the challenge had not received the desired attention from the Federal Government and appealed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Sen. George Akume, to look at all ecological projects currently at his table and forward them to President Bola Tinubu for approval.
Okobia highlighted several projects, including underground water issues and shore challenges in Lagos, Delta, River State, Akwa-Ibom, and other regions across the country. He emphasized the need for proactive government action in addressing ecological challenges, stating that it is for the betterment of the Nigerian people. He acknowledged that ecological challenges are common around the South-East but are prevalent across all geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Despite funds available for ecological projects, Okobia lamented the lack of attention given to these issues by the current government.
The president expressed concern over the growing pattern of flood incidents across the country, which have led to loss of lives, properties, health challenges, and displaced families. He attributed the challenge to poor government attention to ecological issues and cited the Lagdo Dam issue from Cameroon as a specific example. Okobia noted that while Cameroon completed the Lagdo Dam project in 1982, Nigeria did not complete the Dasin Hausa Dam, resulting in major flood incidents in 2012 and 2022.
Okobia urged state governments to address the realities of ecological challenges ravaging the country. Environmental experts have reported worsening environmental degradation in the South-South region and called on all tiers of government to ensure proper utilisation of ecological funds to address the crisis. More than N109.5 billion in ecological funds was disbursed between July 2023 and December 2025 across the 36 states to mitigate ecological challenges, particularly flooding. However, efforts to reach the management of EPO on the utilisation of allocated ecological funds proved abortive.