Edo State is facing an ecological emergency, and the newly established Edo State Ecological Funding and Management Commission is putting forward an ambitious financial agenda to tackle it. The Commission announced on Wednesday that it requires a whopping N160 billion in the first phase of its intervention plan to address the spiraling ecological crisis, which includes over 50 major gully erosion sites that pose an existential threat to communities across the state.
Following a recent comprehensive statewide assessment, the Commission revealed alarming levels of land degradation. Chairman of the Commission, Blessing Agbomere, described some of the gully sites as “devastating and beyond what pictures can explain,” indicating the scale of the challenge.
Agbomere made these crucial remarks during a media briefing held in anticipation of the official launch of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s “Green Revolution and the Edo State Ecological and Climate Trust Fund,” an event scheduled for December 11th.
“We visited over 50 gully erosion sites across the state,” Agbomere stated, as reported . Some will require between $\text{₦}5$ billion and $\text{₦}20$ billion each to remediate. Edo’s budget alone cannot fund this level of ecological emergency.”
To effectively bridge this immense funding gap and begin the critical work of remediation, restoration, and establishing climate resilience projects in the affected communities, the Commission is targeting the N160 billion mark in the initial phase of the new Trust Fund. This ambitious plan underscores the administration’s recognition that the ecological threats facing Edo State demand an immediate and monumental financial commitment.
