The Federal Government has moved to urgently tackle the growing threats to key strategic national assets, including the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Victory installation, and an Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC Limited jetty supporting the nation’s energy infrastructure, following an ecological emergency in Calabar, Cross River State.
The Federal Government’s Ecological Project Permanent Secretary, Dr Aishetu Mohammed, made this disclosure in a statement at the weekend.
The intervention follows the failure of the Channel 2 underground drainage system along Anansa Road in Calabar, which triggered extensive environmental destruction, infrastructure damage, disruption of economic activities and loss of life.
Mohammed said the resultant ecological crisis posed wider national security and economic concerns, which she said were beyond a routine drainage problem.
Speaking while receiving a Cross River State government delegation led by the Commissioner for Environment, Bassey Offiong Mensah, Mohammed said, “The intervention will begin with a joint technical assessment to determine the causes of the crisis and identify sustainable remedial measures. We do not come into a state without partnership with the state and the people.
“We do not take culture for granted. We listen to the people and tailor our interventions accordingly,” Mohammed said.
Calabar erosion: Nigerian govt moves to protect NNPC jetty, Naval assets from ecological disaster