The bill which scaled second reading during Tuesday’s sitting seeks to establish the Erosion Control and Prevention Commission.
Sponsor of the bill, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah in his lead debate on the bill, said the establishment of a commission for the purpose of erosion control and prevention had become imperative in view of the catastrophic impact of erosion in several parts of the country.
He noted that almost every part of the country is characterized by one environmental problem or the other but, however, the menace of erosion is unarguably the severest in terms of devastation and destruction.
He mentioned, the 2012 flooding in Ibadan, Oyo State, the coastal erosion in Lagos, Bayelsa and Rivers States and almost all parts of Anambra State, stressing also the need to note that gully erosion is almost taking over the entire landmass of the South East and South South.
Senator Ubah noted that the problem of erosion is catastrophic in the southern part of Nigeria, while desertification is in the North, adding that with the enactment of the Green Wall Act by the National Assembly, the issue of desertification was laid to rest.
He informed the Senate that in the southern part of the country, erosion is responsible for the widespread destruction of transportation and communication systems, degradation of arable land, contamination of water supply, isolation of settlements and migration of communities.
He pointed out that from available statistics, more than 3,500 gullies occurred in the south east states alone, which are formed by surface runoff from localized rainfall event of high intensity in the fine-to coarse-grained sand and sandstones.
Citing a World bank survey carried out on Nigeria in 1990, the lawmaker stressed that erosion is one of the three main environmental problems facing Nigeria, as according to him, the study noted that “gully erosion causes damage with an annual cost to the nation estimated at N800 billion naira.
Senator Ajayi Boroffice, in his contribution , however kicked against the establishment of a commission for the purpose of erosion control in the South East.
