Reps to Sanction Environment Minister, DG NEMA for Failing to Honor Committee Invitation
The House of Representatives will sanction the Minister of Environment and the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) if they fail to honor the invitation of its Committee on Environment at the next sitting.
The planned sanction of the public officeholders follows their failure to appear at and address a public hearing on the devastating issues of gully erosion, perennial flooding, and desertification in many communities across the country.
Addressing the session, Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Pondi Gbabojor, expressed displeasure with the behavior of the minister and the NEMA DG, stressing that it was the second time they had shunned the invitation and assuring that such attitude would no longer be tolerated.
The Committee Chairman therefore directed the Clerk of the Committee to write to them, conveying the committee’s concern over the development.
“Clerk do a letter to the Ministry of Environment and NEMA and express the displeasure of the committee because this is the second time they are not showing up and it would not be condoned again”, he said.
Mr. Pondi Gbabojor, the matter discussed at the hearing was of urgent concern to Nigerian citizens.
It was deliberated by the house and referred to the committee for proper investigation and a report back to the house for further legislative consideration.
He said the hearing was designed to find a way of addressing the adverse impacts of gully erosion in communities from six Anambra, Bayelsa, Delta, Lagos states, and Ondo as well as desertification in Kano and flooding in Bauchi States.
In his submission before the committee, Director General National Agency for the Great Green Wall Dr Yusuf Maina Bukar, told the committee that protecting and constant planting of trees is the only solution to the devastating situation of erosion and desertification in Nigeria.
Dr Maina Bukar also confirmed that effective awareness among the citizens on the importance of tree planting and the danger of frequent fallen of trees would however, contributed in boosting the nation’s energy resources.
He assured the agency’s commitment to protect the dry lands through the transformation agenda of the present administration on food security and economic diversification.
COV : TSIBIRI
