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How Akwa Ibom is tackling climate change – Emmanuel

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How Akwa Ibom is tackling climate change – Emmanuel

Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, has said that, in responding to the challenges of climate change, the state has adopted several measures aimed at not only curbing the phenomenon’s biophysical and socio-economic consequences, but also ensuring that it does not negate some of its developmental programmes.

Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State
Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State

Emmanuel, who spoke during the opening of the state’s maiden Climate Change and Clean Energy Summit/Expo that held recently in Uyo, the capital city, lamented that Akwa Ibom, as a coastal state, is very vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. According to him, climate change is real and is already affecting various sectors of the state economy with serious consequences.

“Many coastal and riverine communities in the state are already relocating due to the rise in sea levels leading to excessive flooding while others have been submerged,” he disclosed, adding that government recognises the fact that, unless a good response strategy is developed and judiciously implemented, climate change may negate some of its developmental efforts.

To coordinate the activities aimed at tackling the negative impacts of phenomenon, he stated that government has set up a Multi-Sectorial Technical Committee on Climate Change, even as it has upgraded the Climate Change Unit at the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources to a full-fledged Division and recruited professionals to man and run the Division. He added that the current review of the State’s Environmental Management Law has a section on Climate Change Mitigation.

According to him, government has likewise undertaken measures to protect, preserve and prepare the environment for the planned industrial revolution – a venture he described as fairly successful.

His words: “This is made possible through the successful implementation of various environment-friendly policies in the state. For instance, with the reintroduction of the monthly sanitation and proper waste management system, the state has recorded remarkable improvements in environmental sanitation.”

Shedding some light on the state’s industrialisation ambition, he said: “We have set in motion a massive mechanics and drive to achieve this through the constitution of key Technical Committees – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as well as Agriculture and Food Sufficiency as well as that of the realisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport, signing of MOUs, ground-breaking ceremonies – all these efforts are aimed at deepening our economic base and weaning us off of our over dependence on oil.

“Some of these projects include the Ibom Industrial City which will house the deepest seaport in Nigeria (the Ibom Deep Seaport), an Automobile Assembly Plant, LED factory to produce low energy bulbs, metering plant in Onna, the coconut refinery to be located in Ikot Abasi, Mkpat-Enin Eastern Obolo axis and numerous other large-scale industries that are in the works.”

He stressed that the summit’s objective is to address issues that will support the state’s transition to a low carbon and climate resilient economy, while exploring the abundant renewal energy resources and innovative technologies that would enable it contribute to the goal of providing universal access to energy in Africa by the year 2025.

“I am aware that Nigeria’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) blueprint submitted as part of the negotiations leading to Paris Agreement aligns with the theme of this summit. Therefore, as a major oil producing state, we desire to work with the Federal Government and other stakeholders in achieving the INDC targets, especially on ending gas flaring by 2030 and increasing energy efficiency.

“In our effort to turn waste to wealth, this administration has focused on recycling of waste as an alternative means of removing useful products from the huge wastes generated in the state.  This will help in achieving our desired goal of providing employment and generating income for the citizenry,” Governor Emmanuel declared.

How boreholes provided lifeline to Malawian community

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How boreholes provided lifeline to Malawian community

Mary Msampha used to walk 10 kilometres to and from her house searching for water in Lipiri, Dowa District, Central Region Malawi.

Mary Msampha can now afford to draw water close to her home
Mary Msampha can now afford to draw water close to her home

The area is within the control of Traditional Authority (T/A) Kayembe and shares boundary with T/A Chakhaza, another popular chief in the district.

“Our children suffered a lot. Even cooking food was a challenge without water. Secondly, as you know that when you have infants or young children you have to wash their nappies, this was another setback,” says Msampha.

Most of her time was spent on searching for water. Little time was spent on taking care of her family and practicing farming, according to Msampha.

“We sometimes had no option but to travel to a distant place called Kawande to draw water,” recalls Msampha, adding that, like other women, they were subjected to long queues and sleepless night as their efforts to draw water.

People in Lipiri, Dowa are both great commercial and subsistence farmers of beans, cotton, maize, groundnuts, soya sorghum and other crops.

Dowa is an agricultural district which focuses on cotton and groundnut farming, and the main food crops produced in the district are maize, sweet potatoes and pulses.

Even a visit to the area showed that the area has no enough portable water. Perennial rivers from where people can fetch water for home use and dambo farming are also few, prompting such challenges women encounter.

Msampha adds that government funded community-based care centres including those of various organisations such as World Vision in Lipiri were affected.

“It was difficult to run a Community Based Care Centre (CBCC) without water because apart from teaching children every operation depends on water. For you to prepare porridge, wash their clothes, one needs water. It was a problem running CBCCs then,” explains Msampha, who also teaches at Lipiri CBCC.

Today, such calamities have become history. The area has more holes drilled by World Vision. Children and community members, who also used to suffer from waterborne diseases, can now afford a healthier life.

Water is also available in most CBCCs. “We now have the audacity to fetch water from boreholes World Vision drilled in the area. We no longer complain because we even have gardens where we grow vegetables to supplement the diet,” says another mother identified as Naphiri.

World Vision Central Region coordinator Liddah Mtimuni Manyozo says that, currently, the organisation has intensified the drilling of 43 holes in Lipiri Area Programme.

“To this day 37 holes have been drilled with two dry holes in Lipiri, which has a population of 22, 382. On average,” said Manyozo.

The initiative is meant to deal with water challenges children and others face in homes, schools and habitable place. In fact, in other areas World Vision is drilling solar power driven boreholes.

By George Mhango

Images: People at the heart of land restoration

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Images: People at the heart of land restoration

Land restoration in northern Niger  in West Africa is making degraded areas productive again, providing economic opportunities in a region where migration has become a tradition.

Now, under Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations’ (FAO) Action Against Desertification programme, these efforts are being expanded to six African countries.

According to the FAO, this development shows that land degradation around the Sahara is not yet irreversible.

Photos: © FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Desertification and land degradation are very serious challenges. They lead to hunger and poverty
Desertification and land degradation are very serious challenges. They lead to hunger and poverty.
Over the next decade, 50 million people may be displaced – the result of climate change and the depletion of natural resources.
Over the next decade, 50 million people may be displaced – the result of climate change and the depletion of natural resources.
But recent successes show that land degradation is not yet irreversible.
But recent successes show that land degradation is not yet irreversible.
The Great Green Wall initiative can be a game-changer for Africa – boosting food security, creating jobs and helping people adapt to climate change.
The Great Green Wall initiative can be a game-changer for Africa – boosting food security, creating jobs and helping people adapt to climate change.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has joined the initiative and is engaged in land restoration across the Sahel.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has joined the initiative and is engaged in land restoration across the Sahel.
People are at the heart of FAO’s Action Against Desertification programme.
People are at the heart of FAO’s Action Against Desertification programme.
Restoration efforts focus on supporting livelihoods, which mainly depend on farming and livestock.
Restoration efforts focus on supporting livelihoods, which mainly depend on farming and livestock.
Plants are essential for rural communities – trees, shrubs and grasses provide everything, from food to fodder and from medicine to construction material.
Plants are essential for rural communities – trees, shrubs and grasses provide everything, from food to fodder and from medicine to construction material.
Plants also bring economic opportunities. Fodder grass sells wells on the market, for example.
Plants also bring economic opportunities. Fodder grass sells wells on the market, for example.

More investment crucial to upscale Great Green Wall initiative

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More investment crucial to upscale Great Green Wall initiative

During a high-level event on the Great Green Wall initiative, leaders of African countries called for increased investment in combatting desertification and land degradation to improve the lives of the people of Africa’s drylands.

Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO
Jose Graziano da Silva, Director General of the FAO

“The Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is committed to scaling up support to the Great Green Wall initiative,” said José Graziano Da Silva, Director-General of FAO. “It offers hope for prosperity and well-being to the local communities at the heart of our efforts.”

Brah Mahamat, Minister for Environment, Water & Fisheries from Chad, speaking on behalf of the African Union that leads the initiative, emphasised the epic ambitions of Africa’s flagship rural development programme. “The Great Green Wall is one of the most audacious efforts in human history,” he said.

Yet the challenges of climate change and land degradation are equally formidable, ministers and senior representatives from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan noted. Great Green Wall countries are faced with conflict, migration, poverty and hunger.

“There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Amina Mohammed, Nigerian Minister of Environment, who lauded the merits of the initiative. “In spite of all odds, it is an initiative of solidarity, it is about a family of countries across the Sahel and the Sahara that are taking collective responsibility.”

To bolster its support to the initiative, FAO builds on recommendations of the recent International Great Green Wall Conference in Dakar and a roadmap for the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, said René Castro, FAO’s Assistant Director-General for Forestry.

But the task ahead is daunting, he warned. To rehabilitate 10 per cent of the total area around the Sahara Desert affected by desertification, estimated at 600 million hectares, would require an investment of about $143 billion.

“We need to think big and see big,” said FAO’s Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo in her closing remarks. “It’s time to scale-up.”

Foresters emphasise on integration to achieve SDGs

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Foresters emphasise on integration to achieve SDGs

Key forestry experts from governments, the private sector and NGOs gathered on Wednesday for the opening of the Asia Pacific Rainforest Summit 2016 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. Regional leaders reinforced the importance of working in partnership between governments, private sector, forest scientists and communities towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the Paris Agreement.

Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Minister, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali Bin Apong
Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Minister, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali Bin Apong

Opening the Summit Brunei’s Minister of Primary Resources and Tourism Minister, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ali Bin Apong, was hopeful every effort was being made to restore rainforests but stressed more can be done to battle deforestation and forest degradation.

“We are in the 21st Century, where technological developments are at our fingertips. We should promote efficient utilisation of forest resources through appropriate technologies and at the same time, encourage the production of forest value-added products,” he said.

Brunei is also focusing on enhancing efficiency to boost yields, and encouraging investments in agriculture technology.

Australia’s Minister for Environment and Energy, Mr Josh Frydenberg, urged participants to use the global momentum from the Paris Agreement to drive the environmental agenda and action further.

Australia is sharing its knowledge and lessons learnt with countries in the region, partnering with US and Norway, through the Global Forest Observations Initiative, to extend this outreach.

“This initiative promotes a globally integrated approach to measuring emissions from deforestation using satellite-based data. This work is already making a tangible difference in supporting countries in our region to measure the emissions from their forest resources. If you can’t manage, you can’t measure.”

Dr Peter Holmgren, Director General of the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), called for an integrated approach to achieve the sustainable goals and to redefine “forestry” to include all aspects of sustainable development.

“We will not realise the full potential of forests and forestry in sustainable development unless we work across traditional institutional boundaries. The common denominator that brings us together is landscapes. Landscapes with a wide diversity in shapes and sizes will be a cornerstone for the future we want.”

This year’s summit is hosted by the Government of Brunei Darussalam, and supported by the Government of Australia, with CIFOR as the science and engagement advisor.

Five years after UNEP report: Will Ogoni breathe again?

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Five years after UNEP report: Will Ogoni breathe again?

August 4, 2016 marks the 5th anniversary of the submission of the report of the assessment of the environment of Ogoniland to former President Jonathan by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report etched for Nigeria and the world, the damning levels of hydrocarbon and other toxic pollutions in Ogoniland. The report more or less indicated that a state of environmental emergency should have been declared in Ogoniland. Nothing much happened, and each passing year, since the submission of the report, has witnessed more groaning and sighing by the people that have no option but to live in the horrendously polluted environment.

A banner by the Ogoni Cleanup Campaign. Photo credit: saction.org
A banner by the Ogoni Cleanup Campaign. Photo credit: saction.org

The first inkling of action by government was on the eve of the first anniversary of the UNEP report. That was on 24th July 2012 when the government hurriedly cobbled together what was known as the Hydrocarbons Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP). The name was quite anachronistic, but it was aimed at calming nerves of locals who were getting impatient that a year was rolling by with nothing being done with the report that showed that they were living in an environment that was killing them. The first visible actions of HYPREP included the mounting of huge billboards in Port Harcourt denouncing oil theft and tampering with oil pipelines.

While this was going on, the people were drinking water that has been shown to be laced with hydrocarbon pollutants and at places with carcinogenic benzene. They are still drinking such water. On 26th July 2016, after a monitoring training of a team of Ecological Defenders of Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) we decided to visit one of the community leaders at Ogale, Nchia-Eleme, Ogoni. Our host turned on his electricity generator and pumped water up from a borehole he had sunk. As the water gushed the smell of petroleum products filled the air. Indeed, one would be right to wonder if he was pumping up petrol. We asked to know what they use the water for. All sanitary needs. Plus, drinking at times. Mind boggling.

Another sign that the recommendations of the UNEP report have been seen by HYPREP is the ubiquitous sign posts in Ogoniland erected at polluted creeks, streams, rivers and boreholes. They all warn citizens not to drink, fish or swim in the contaminated water. Besides the water trucked in by the Rivers State government at that time, the people have largely been left to cater for themselves as best as they can, or to wallow in the toxic waters.

A meeting of rotten oil facilities, oil spills, third party interferences and oil theft give the best example of how to brew environmental disaster. Visits to Bodo, K-Dere, B-Dere, Ogale, Goi and other polluted in Ogoniland literally leaves one breathless. And angry.

Efforts to commence the clean up of Ogoniland took a more determined turn under the current leadership of the Ministry of Environment. To begin with, HYPREP was decoupled from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, a ministry deeply complicit in the polluting of Ogoniland and the rest of the Niger Delta. The project is now domiciled in the Ministry of Environment which should provide a more credible platform for the tasks that need to be done.

The ceremonial flag-off of the clean up of Ogoniland (with expected expansion to other highly polluted parts of the larger Niger Delta in mind) took place on 2nd June 2016 at the Numuu Tekuru Waterside, Bodo. Several questions have trailed the ceremonial flag off. Is the government sincere about the exercise? Is there a budget for the clean up? When would the structures to oversee the clean up be set up? What roles would local people play in the exercise? Will this be another avenue for dispensing political patronage?

One of the best response to the situation has come by way of a briefing prepared by Social Action, titled Cleaning in a Vacuum: Framework Gaps in the Implementation of the UNEP report on Ogoniland (July 2016). The Briefing pointed out among other things that HYPREP did not receive the approval of community and civil society groups because what UNEP recommended was the creation of an Ogoniland Environmental Restoration Authority whereas HYPREP had a mandate that covered the entire Niger Delta. The embedding of HYPREP in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources did also not gone well with many. Same with the lack of transparency in the operations of HYPREP. Social Action believes that HYPREP would face serious hiccups unless it has an enabling legislation establishing it, especially because the clean up will be a long drawn process transcending many administrations. The group, and other stakeholders, would also like to see a clear roadmap for the planned clean-up.

Some of the issues flagged by Social Action also emerged at the HOMEF training of 27th July 2016 and we quote:

  • There is need for a comprehensive health impact assessment which should detail the health impacts of pollution on people who reside in pollution impacted sites.
  • The process of consultation and sensitisation should be intensified and carried on throughout the stages of the clean-up implementation process to ensure that communities understand what each stage entails and what is expected in order to avoid possible confusion and misunderstanding which could result in conflict.
  • Inclusion of all segments of the society, including consideration for women, youths and people living with disabilities in the clean up processes.
  • Clear and verifiable milestones should be established to ensure an active and healthy feedback cycle with all stakeholders.
  • The training of community members to act in different capacities in the clean-up, must be instituted as a critical means of community inclusion.

As yet another anniversary comes, we note that the much vexed issues of reviewing the structure of HYPREP and the setting up of the structures for the clean up have been done. We hope that Ogoni will one day breathe fresh air again.

By Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF)

Cameroon ratifies Paris Agreement

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Cameroon ratifies Paris Agreement
Cameroon's President, Paul Biya
Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya

Cameroon has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement with the United Nations, making it the 21st nation to do so. The instrument was deposited on Friday, 29 July 2016.

Cameroon had earlier signed the global treaty.

Cameroon closely follows Peru, which recently did likewise

At the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP), held in Paris, France, the Parties adopted the Paris Climate Change Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The Agreement was opened for signature on 22 April 2016 at a high-level signature ceremony convened by the Secretary General in New York. At that ceremony, 174 States and the European Union signed the agreement and 15 States also deposited their instruments of ratification.

As of 29 July 2016, there are 179 signatories to the Paris Agreement. Of these, 21 States have also deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval accounting in total for 0.85 % of the total global greenhouse gas emissions.

The Agreement shall enter into force on the 13th day after the date on which at least 55 Parties to the Convention accounting in total for at least an estimated 55 % of the total global greenhouse gas emissions have deposited their instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession with the Depository.

Nigeria has neither signed nor ratified the treaty.

UNICEF: Vulnerable children most impacted by climate change

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UNICEF: Vulnerable children most impacted by climate change

The United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN’s children’s rights and emergency relief organisation, has warned that climate change is a dangerous and disruptive force for many children around the world and is particularly impacting the most vulnerable.

The report warns that climate change is a dangerous and disruptive force for many children around the world and is particularly impacting the most vulnerable
The report warns that climate change is a dangerous and disruptive force for many children around the world and is particularly impacting the most vulnerable

In its 2016 annual report, the organisation says that poor and disadvantaged children were disproportionately affected by humanitarian disasters last year – including particularly damaging climate change-related disasters in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said: “The effects of climate change – diseases, droughts and floods that destroy food sources and livelihoods – further exacerbated risks to children and deepened deprivation for millions. Crushing poverty and widening disparities in health, education and protection undermined the lives and futures of millions more.”

The report highlights how severe tropical cyclone Pam barreled through the Pacific island state of Vanuatu in March of last year, demolishing schools, health care facilities and water supplies, and traumatising children and their families.

Floods, landslides and other natural disasters combined with unrest in Myanmar created a critical situation in 2015, displacing hundreds of thousands of children from their homes.

The report also sets out how, during the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris at the end of last year (COP21), UNICEF campaigned for accelerated climate action.

During COP21, UNICEF promoted the message that the disruptions caused by rises in overall global average temperature will not only lead to more floods and droughts, but also to more food insecurity, lost agricultural income, forced migration and other hardships for the countries and communities – and children – least equipped to cope with them.

In a report used by UNICEF to advocate for meaningful climate action commitments by governments in Paris (“Unless We Act Now – the Impact of Climate Change on Children”), the organisation showed areas that are projected to be most impacted by rising temperatures under different mitigation models and the amount of children that live in these high-impact areas.

The maps use data predictions from the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). The map on the left shows a “business as usual” model of no mitigation policies and with nearly 1.5 billion children affected as a result.

The second scenario projects a likely increase of 2.4 degrees Celsius, slightly above the 2-degree absolute limit set by the Paris Agreement. The third scenario models a 1.6-degree Celsius increase, consistent with the 1.5-degree ideal limit agreed at COP21. This still shows 150 million children severely affected in high-impact areas.

Last year, UNICEF also mobilised celebrities to push for climate action. Goodwill Ambassador Katy Perry starred in a UNICEF video that was shown at the Paris conference.

The video featured Perry in a special “weather report” highlighting the impact of climate change on children and calling for urgent action to change the forecast for the planet’s future.

NEMA provides for repentant Boko Haram insurgents

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NEMA provides for repentant Boko Haram insurgents

Towards fast-tracking peace process in the North-eastern Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has presented food and non-food items to the military for Operation Safe Corridor Programme meant to de-radicalise, rehabilitate and re-integrate 800 Boko Haram insurgents that surrendered‎.

Aftermath of a Boko Haram attack
Aftermath of a Boko Haram attack

Presenting the items in Gombe, the Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi said, “The initiative, which is in line with international best practices allowed those engaged in the fighting to voluntarily surrender and embrace peace so that they undergo rehabilitation.”

He added that NEMA would play its role in the programme by providing regular support of food and non-food items for their up keep.

According to a statement signed and issued by Sani Datti of the Media and Public Relations Unit of the Agency, the items, which would be released quarterly, include 410 bags of rice, 400 bags of beans, 200 bags of millet, 200 bags of sorghum, 750 cartons of spaghetti, 50 cartons of Maggi cubes and 810 cartons tomato paste. Others are 101 Vegetable oil in 20 liter kegs, 101 palm oil in 20 liter kegs, 50 bags of salt, 100 bags of sugar, 420 cartons of milk and 420 cartons of milo chocolate.

The non food items include: 800 pieces of mattress, 500 hundred pieces of blanket, 500 pieces of nylon mats, 1000 plastic buckets, 1000 plastic spoons, 1000 plastic cups 1000, plastics plates, 1000 plastic pairs of slippers, 2000 men’s wear, 63 cartons of bath soap and 1000 bath towels.

Receiving the items, the Coordinator of Operation Safe Corridor, Brigadier-General BM Shafa, said the initiative was designed to de-radicalise, rehabilitate and re-integrate willing and repented Boko Haram insurgents who have come out to surrender to the military and believing that it would quicken the peace process in the North east.

“Between September last year and February this year, a good number of Boko Haram members have come out to surrender,” he added.

He thanked the Gombe State Government for providing the location and giving them all the necessary support.

About 11 agencies of the Federal Government are directly involved in the Operation Safe Corridor programme.

By Abdallah el-Kurebe

British businesses urged to invest in Eko Atlantic City

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British businesses urged to invest in Eko Atlantic City

Eko Atlantic City, a sprawling mixed-use estate being built on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos, has been described as an opportunity for British businesses to make a difference in Nigeria.

Model of the development
Model of the development

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright, who made the submission during a recent tour of the project site by a trade delegation of the British Prime Minister, expressed delight over the pace of development on site. The delegation was led by John Howell, a Member of Parliament and British Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria.

Arkwright said he was amazed by the size and ambition of the project which, he noted, has replaced land that has been lost due to coastal erosion.

L-R: Ahmed Bashir, MBE, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria; Pierre Edde, Development Director, Eko Atlantic City; John Howell, MP, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria; Paul Arkwright, CMG, British High Commissioner to Nigeria; and Daba Graham-Douglas, Project Coordinator, Financial District Development, Eko Atlantic City, during a tour of Eko Atlantic City by the UK Prime Minister’s delegation on Thursday July 28, 2016
L-R: Ahmed Bashir, MBE, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria; Pierre Edde, Development Director, Eko Atlantic City; John Howell, MP, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria; Paul Arkwright, CMG, British High Commissioner to Nigeria; and Daba Graham-Douglas, Project Coordinator, Financial District Development, Eko Atlantic City, during a tour of Eko Atlantic City by the UK Prime Minister’s delegation on Thursday July 28, 2016

“I look forward to seeing the city develop and become a home to British business,” he said, adding: “I am also surprised by how much development has taken place since I was last here; most roads have been constructed with numerous buildings nearing completion. Eko Atlantic is a wonderful opportunity for British business to make a difference in Nigeria.”

Howell described the project as an amazing feat of engineering, and commended the handlers of the multi-billion-dollar project, South Energyx Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, for “the ambitious work being undertaken.”

He described the project as innovative and exciting, saying: “I look forward to future discussions on the ways that UK businesses can facilitate the scale and ambition of this project in areas such as construction and retail.”

Also on the UK team were Ahmed Bashir, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner; Laura Mackie, Executive Assistant, UK Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria; Wale Adebajo, British Deputy High Commission’s Press; and Boma Beddie-Memberr, Executive Assistant, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner.

Briefing the delegation, the Development Director, South Energyx Nigeria Limited, Pierre Edde, said that, on completion, the estate would be home to about 450,000 residents, providing office facilities for another 150,000 people, with commuter volume expected to exceed 300,000 people daily. In addition, he said, the new city would be self-sufficient and sustainable, generating its own power, water and telecommunications facilities.

He pointed out that the project was designed to change the face of the Lagos coastline by permanently solving the problem of the incessant ocean surge that had threatened to overrun the Victoria Island area of the state. He described the project as an investor’s delight, with promise of quick return on investment. He urged investors, especially Nigerians in diaspora, to take the opportunity offered by the emerging city to increase their investment in Africa’s most populous nation.

Upon completion, he stressed, Eko Atlantic City will become Africa’s main business hub, with its Central Business District positioned to become the new financial headquarters for Lagos and the entire country.

Edde described the project as rapidly approaching completion and restated his company’s commitment to ensuring that it is completed on schedule. He told the delegation that one of the first two residential buildings in the new city would be completed by the end of August, while the second would be ready before the end of the year, with the first office block set be ready between September and October, 2016.

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