Nigeria: Annie Okonkwo Floats 100 Billion Naira Disaster Fund
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Daily Champion (Lagos)
6 August 2008
Posted to the web 6 August 2008
Kalu Okwara
Lagos
Residents of erosion-ravaged communities in Anambra State, now have cause to cheer as Senator Annie Okonkwo, representing Anambra Central in the Senate, plans to float a N100 billion foundation to address the natural disaster.
It is known as Anambra Erosion Foundation (AEF). The money raised will be administered by credible people to ensure accountability.
Senator Okonkwo, a chieftain the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) dropped the hint yesterday while fielding, questions from senior editors of Champion Newspapers Limited, when he visited the company's head office at Isolo, Lagos, Okonkwo said he decided to set up the foundation due to the devastation by erosion not only his constituency but the entire South-east.
He said he has contacted Some Isrealis who are professionals in erosion control for collaboration in tackling the problem in his constituency.
Asked whether it the erosion control would be restricted to his constituency, Senator Okonkwo who is the senate committee vice chaorman on Environment and Ecology, said Anambra State would serve only as a test study, stressing that other states suffering the erosion menace would take cue from his foundation to solve their erosion problem.
Lamenting the menace of erosion in the South Eastern States, Senator Okonkwo said there were over 1000 erosion sites in Anambra State, stressing that if something was not urgently done, Anambra would cease to exist in the near future.
"What is happening in Anambra State is like Tsunami. I want to take record of all erosion site in the state so that when we talk about the problem people will see it.
"We will even present it to the United Nations (UN) and ensure that we attract internaitonal donors and also to the federal government to support us.
"We expect a high level of transparency and accountability from the people who will manage the foundation and we know that those problems are caused by climate change and global warming", he said.
According to Senator Okonkwo whose chieftaincy title is Agunaechemba said the application of the ecological fund over the years had been awkward, despite the fact that the federal govrnment allocated two percent of the revenue allocation to it.
He said what "happens is that that fund is tranfered to the presidency through the Secretary to the Federal Government (SFG) which is not right.
This makes the disbursement awkward because if a governor goes to the president to collect his state's allocation, oit is only released if the president likes your face.
"So, we are now say that this thing cannot continue like this we want to the prsident and told him that we must have a law like the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that will take care of the application of the ecological fund. The bill is now on the its second reading in the senate.
"All the observed loopeholes in the operation of the ecological fund are what we are trying to correct in the bill".
Senator Okonkwo commended the giant strides the Champion Newspapers have been making in the media sector, describing its Executive Chairman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu as a titan who has stool firm in fighting Igbo cause in Nigeria.
Earlier in his opening remarks, the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of the CNL, Mr. Ugo Onuoha described Senator Okonkwo as a passionate Igbo leader who has been inflinching in fighting Igbo cause.
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According to him, Senator Okonkwo has been consistent in propagating the agenda of Ndigbo, stressign that he remained a supporter and a friend of the CNL.
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Copyright © 2008 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
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